Skydiving
by s11235
Summary: Sequel to An Unwelcome guest. Modern AU. Lancelot is back to throw a spanner in the works for Gwen and Arthur's new relationship. With two men vying for her attention Gwen must make a choice and will Arthur be able stand the competition?
1. Chapter 1

There was complete silence as the two men stared at each other, and she flicked her head back and forth between them as if watching a tennis match.

Then Arthur's phone was ringing.

'Shit, Gwen I'm going to have to take this' he said looking down at the caller I.D and squeezing her hand, 'you'll be okay right?'

'Go Arthur, its fine' she smiled weakly.

He slid off the desk and past Lancelot, giving him the kind of look which said quite clearly: 'I'd watch my back if I were you.'

* * *

Once they were alone Lancelot took several paces towards her.

'I ran through how this would happen in my head so much during the flight here, but I never saw _this_ coming'

She hated how the pain in his eyes and tone still had the power to hurt her. True it was more of an ache now, rather than the excruciating stab of agony it had once been. She pushed the dull throbbing to the

back of her mind.

'It's been four months Lancelot, did you honestly think I would have sat around pining for you this whole time?'

'No' he replied bluntly, 'but _Arthur Pendragon? _Seriously Gwen?'

'Yes seriously'

'How could you? You know what kind of guy he is'

'Very easily and I know exactly what kind of man he is, he is not what you think'

'You really believe that?'

'Yes and it's not even any of your business who I date'

'I think it is, I am your friend Gwen, if nothing else'

'You are no friend of mine' she said backing away from him, shaking her head vehemently, 'a friend would have called, e-mailed, sent a postcard or maybe a smoke signal, carrier pigeon or a message in Morse

code, something; or did I somehow miss all your desperate attempts to get in touch?' she said folding her arms tightly across her chest.

'You didn't, I just thought it would be better for you-'

'Bollocks, you did what was best for you, no one else'

'I thought it would be easier if we didn't talk, a clean break and all that'

'How's that working out for you?'

'It's not. That's why I'm back, the truth is I can't stop thinking about you. I want you Gwen.'

'Then you have had a wasted trip' she said turning her back on him, 'I'm with Arthur now, so my advice is to get straight back on the plane.'

'I'm not going anywhere Gwen. When I said I'd come back, I meant for good. I quit my job in China, ended the lease on my flat and packed up my stuff. I'm here to stay'

'Oh God' she breathed, having to touch the wall to steady herself.

'I gave Morgana a call last week, before I left China and she gave me a job-'

'Morgana knew about this?' she shot at him.

'Don't be mad at her Gwen, I begged her to keep quiet about it, thought it would be a surprise' he smiled weakly.

She snorted derisively, 'well it was certainly a surprise'

'Look I understand that you are upset'

'Upset? I'm not upset, I'm bloody furious!' she said, her voice trembling with anger, 'you have no right to waltz back into my life and tell me that you want me back, to mess with my head. You walked out on me

remember?'

'Yes and it was the biggest mistake of my life, but we can go back to how it was before. Act like the past four months never happened'

She let out a harsh laugh, 'don't you get it? I'm with Arthur'

'For how long Gwen? This must be a pretty recent development if Morgana didn't mention that her brother and her best friend had got together.'

'What difference does it make how recent it is?'

'It'll only be a matter of time before he lets you down Gwen, we both know that. But I will be there for you when he does'

'I don't want you to be there for me'

'Tell me, honestly, that you don't have feelings for me'

She looked at the carpet and mumbled, 'I can't'

'Then I will wait for you. I won't risk losing you again'

'Then you will be waiting for a long time'

'I'd happily wait forever if it meant I could be with you'

'Get out'

He put the bouquet down on her desk.

'And take your flowers with you'

'Please keep them'

'No'

'Just take them and put them in a vase or-'

He broke off as she opened the fourth floor window and, checking no one was below, dropped the bouquet onto the pavement beneath.

'Oops' she said clapping her hand to her mouth in mock horror. She turned to him and said 'goodbye Lancelot,' her voice as cold and hard as iron.

* * *

He put the phone down, a wave of relief cascading over him, his father was to be released without charge. He knocked on Morgana's door.

'Hey, Dad's being released, I'm going to go and pick him up from the police station, do you want to come?'

'Er'

'I know it would mean a lot to him if you came'

'Fine, just give me a second'

'I'll go say goodbye to Gwen' he said without thinking.

Morgana arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow as Arthur disappeared from the doorway. _There was definitely something going on. _

* * *

He raised his hand to the door, but before he knocked he heard the sound of Gwen's raised voice, 'what difference does it make how recent it is?'

A pause. Then Lancelot's voice, 'it'll only be a matter of time before he lets you down Gwen, we both know that. But I will be there for you when he does.'

He had a good mind to march in there right now and punch his living daylights out, but something held him where he stood.

'I don't want you to be there for me' he heard her snap back. _Good for her_ he grinned. _ Hang on a second, she hadn't addressed the first half of his statement. _His face fell. _Did she agree with Lancelot? Did she really _

_believe that he would let her down? Well, _he reasoned, _if she did, she was probably justified. _

'Tell me, honestly, that you don't have feelings for me.' Lancelot's words broke through his thoughts like a battering-ram.

He listened intently for Gwen's answer. When it came it was faint and crushing, 'I can't.'

He couldn't listen to anymore of this. He let his hand fall to his side.

As he made his way back down the corridor, he formed his resolve; he would not let her go without a fight. _Yes, she and Lancelot had history, she still had feelings for him and Lancelot was clearly much better at _

_expressing his emotions than he could ever be. True, he and Gwen had never been on an actual date and had only technically become an item that morning. Yes, the odds were stacked against him and yes he was _

_probably going to lose her to Lancelot, but wasn't it worth a shot? _

'Time to go' he said poking his head around Morgana's door.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and followed him to the lifts.

'Did you let Gwen know I was leaving too?'

'I didn't get a chance to speak to her actually' he said trying to keep his voice cool.

'How come?'

'Lancelot'

'Oh okay' she said as she pressed the button for the lift.

'You don't sound surprised that he's back'

'Of course I'm not, he called me last week to say he was coming back and that he was looking for a job-'

'You didn't?'

'What? We are one down in Marketing in my department, and I thought it would make Gwen happy to have him back.'

'You should have consulted me' Arthur snapped as they entered the lift.

'Why? You filled his old slot ages ago'

'It would have been common courtesy to ask'

'What is wrong with you Arthur?' she asked irritably. 'Oh' she said with a look of dawning comprehension.

'What?' he snapped defensively.

'You like her'

'What?' he said his throat becoming dry and tight, his cheeks turning scarlet.

'I should have worked it out from your behaviour earlier, you like her but she knocked you back.'

His pride took hold and before he could stop himself he was saying, 'for your information she did not knock me back!'

'What?' exclaimed Morgana, her skin becoming even paler than normal, 'you and Gwen?'

'I shouldn't have said anything' Arthur said, panicking.

'You two didn't...?'

'Didn't what?'

'You know' Morgana said raising her eyebrows suggestively.

'Er' Arthur stammered, 'I think we should really be making a-'

'Oww!' he howled as Morgana's handbag came into contact with his head.

'Jeez, why does everyone blame me? Hasn't occurred to anyone that maybe she's every bit as responsible?'

'Not likely, poor Gwen' she said her brow furrowed.

'Why is it you and Merlin both got the wrong end of the stick? It wasn't just some meaningless one night stand'

Her jaw dropped, 'fuck a duck' she breathed, 'my brother and my best friend?'

'She didn't mention it then?' he said a little disappointed.

'She was probably too embarrassed' Morgana grinned before Arthur thumped her.

'Hey you should be nicer to the best friend of your-' she paused and thought for a moment, 'what is she?'

'I don't know' he shrugged, 'probably nothing considering Lancelot is back in the picture'

'You seem pretty serious about her'

He shrugged noncommittally.

'Well you have very good taste, can't say the same for her though' she grinned.

Arthur's expression remained stony.

'I'm sorry I encouraged him to come back' she said softening, 'how could I know my brother would fall for my best friend?'

'I haven't _fallen _for her'

'Oh really?' she said raising a sceptical eyebrow.

'It doesn't matter now Lancelot is back' he said, avoiding her question and her gaze.

'Since when' she said halting his progress down the pavement 'has Arthur Pendragon ever backed down from a challenge?'

He forced a grin. Then he spotted a crumpled, familiar looking bouquet underneath a certain fourth storey window. He made his way over. They were Lancelot's flowers alright.

_Maybe there was hope yet. _

* * *

'Merlin tell me again why we are watching this trash again?'

'This is classic Star Trek, it is not trash' he said indignantly.

Arthur rolled his eyes.

'Merlin, what's that dude doing?'

'Arthur don't talk, you are ruining it'

Arthur folded his arms sulkily, 'was not ruining it' he grumbled.

A few minutes of silence then 'so how come you never told me you were a Trekkie?'

'I am _not_a Trekkie, I'm a Trekker'

'Sounds just as lame to me'

'Out' Merlin demanded pointing to the living room door.

'What?' Arthur exclaimed.

'Out please, I don't think I can be around you right now' he said dramatically, 'and Star Trek is not lame' he added in a hiss as Arthur was just about to shut the door behind him.

'Whatever mate'

* * *

'Hey Gwen'

'Arthur?'

'Yeah'

'Thank God, someone sane to talk to'

'What?'

'Well comparatively' she teased, 'Morgana's over and has been talking about Jimmy Choo, Dolce and Gabbana and a string of designers I have never even heard of for the last hour. I love her to bits, but it is

taking all my self control not to hit my head against the wall.'

'Bad luck' he laughed, slipping down the kitchen cabinet and onto the cool lino, 'well I have just been thrown out of the living room because I was talking through Merlin's Star Trek and then I called him a

Trekkie'

She giggled, 'oh dear, rookie mistake my friend' she said sliding down the bathroom wall and onto the tiled floor.

'Then I might have inferred that Star Trek is lame'

'Oh you didn't' she said sounding serious now.

'I did'

'He's very touchy about his Star Trek'

'I know that _now. _Jeez the kid needs to come with a warning label.'

She laughed, 'true'

'Look Gwen I'm really sorry I ran out on you this morning'

'Thanks to my formidable deductive skills I guessed from the four texts and the voicemail'

'Too much?'

'A bit' she said, but he could tell from her voice that she was smiling, 'so how is your Dad doing?'

'He's a bit stressed out to be honest, he hates talking about my Mum at the best of times, so for him to be accused of somehow being responsible for her death must have been pretty tough.'

'Yeah,' she said feeling a little awkward.

'But it's over now, the allegations have been withdrawn, the witness is going to be charged with perverting the course of justice after it was discovered that the new evidence was fabricated.'

'What are the consequences going to be for the company?'

'Well Dad flew off to the Maldives this afternoon and he's staying there for the next month or until the hype has died down. I'm taking over the CEO position for the time being, the Board thinks its best. Dad

and the Board will still be controlling the operation from behind the scenes, I'll just be the figurehead.'

'Are you okay with that?'

'Of course'

'Arthur, it's me you're talking to'

'I will have to be okay with it. I don't like the fact that it seems like Dad is running away from his problems rather than facing them. I don't like the fact that this is going to give me less time to-' he broke off.

'To what?'

'To spend with you' he said faintly, 'though only if you want to, I mean with Lancelot back I totally understand if you've changed your mind, I wouldn't blame you, I-'

'I haven't changed my mind' she said quickly, cutting across him, 'as long you haven't changed yours'

'Definitely not' he grinned.

Then he heard Morgana's muffled but shrill voice from the other end of the line, 'Gwen, how long are you going to hide in the bathroom talking to your boyfriend?'

'I should probably go' Gwen said.

'Okay, well have a nice night and can I give you a call tomorrow evening?'

'Sounds good'

'And I will try not to harang you with texts'

'That sounds great too' she grinned, 'Goodnight Arthur'

'Night Guinevere.'

She snapped her phone shut and bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.

'Gwen?' came Morgana's voice from the living room.

She stood up and gave her reflection a quick glance and was embarrassed to see the dopey grin on her face. _Snap out of it Gwen_ she cursed herself, _she didn't do the whole free fall into love thing, Gwen was the _

_kind of girl who liked a parachute. And yet with Arthur she had just jumped, knowing she had no safety net, knowing she must hit the ground at some point, but somehow it had not mattered. Now Lancelot was back, _

_offering her that well-loved parachute and yes in many ways it was appealing, but she found she was rather enjoying the unimpeded fall through the atmosphere. And while she could not forget that she and the ground _

_would meet once again, she could push it to the back of her mind for now and delight in the exhilaration of the plummet. _

'Please don't tell me you two did the _'you hang up. No you hang up' _thing?' Morgana drawled as Gwen emerged, still beaming, from the bathroom.

* * *

_Author's note: First of all, thanks to all the lovely people who pushed me to write a sequel, it meant a lot. And secondly I have to apologise to all you lovely people for the standard of the sequel. I'm not a big fan of this chapter, but it gets better after this, at least in my opinion, maybe because you will get more A/G in the next chapter, which always makes me feel more cheerful :D. Thanks again guys and hope you enjoy my attempt at a sequel xx  
_


	2. Chapter 2

'I'll just grab my notes-' she broke off as she opened her office door. 'Oh my God' was all she managed to say.

Morgana let out a dry laugh behind her, 'you have got to be kidding me' she said taking a step into the room.

It looked like the interior of a florist, there were bouquets everywhere, along with baskets of fruit, boxes of chocolates and an over-sized teddy bear leering at her from her desk. There was also a card sat

between its legs. Gwen picked it up with a look of disgust at the wrinkled puppy which adorned the front and opened it with a trepidation, which turned out to be entirely justified.

'_Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it  
I just want you back for good-'_

She snapped the card shut in horror, the shrill metallic singing reverberating inside her skull. She exchanged a look with Morgana, who was biting her lip. Then the pair of them dissolved into a fit of giggles.

At length, her sides aching, Gwen straightened up.

'Do you think Lancelot knows he's trying win _you _back?' Morgana said breathlessly.

'Unfortunately yes' Gwen grinned, 'don't you remember Valentine's day last year?'

'Oh God, yeah, I forgot'

'That bloody pink rabbit teddy thing sat on the end of my bed for months'

'You should have just told him you hated it'

'He would have read something into it, like because I didn't like the ugly, enormous stuffed creature it somehow meant that I didn't have space for him in my life or some rubbish like that.'

'Mr Sensitive huh?'

'Totally, I thought after all that he would get the message pretty quick this time, I mean I told him I wasn't interested, that I'm with Arthur _and _I threw his flowers out of the window.'

Morgana laughed, 'I still can't believe you did that'

'I feel really bad but I was just so frustrated'

'So I take it from this you are sure that you want Arthur, not Lancelot?'

'I've told you a hundred times'

'I know, I know, but I don't want you to make a mistake. I love Arthur but I also know what he's like, I'm just warning you, I don't want to see you hurt babe.'

'I understand, but I always ere on the side of caution in relationships, for once I don't want to, I want to take the risk. I know it will probably end badly, but I'm enjoying the ride'

'EEEEWWW!!!!!!'

'Morgana I did not mean it like that!' Gwen exclaimed, flushing scarlet, 'get your mind out of the gutter'

'Sorry' she replied shamefaced, 'but was it...you know...good?'

'I don't think you want to know'

'Well I kinda don't, but at the same time we always talk about this kinda stuff, I mean it's a bit weird 'cause he's my brother-' she broke off, looking rather queasy, 'you're right, I don't want to know.'

Gwen giggled, her cheeks still a little pink.

'God, Arthur has totally messed up our girly chats, make sure he knows that'

'To be honest I think he'll be grateful that I don't discuss our sex life with you'

'That bad huh?' she said grinning.

'Oh he is _very_ bad' Gwen replied with a wink.

'Gwen!' Morgana shrieked clamping her hands over her ears as Gwen laughed, 'that is _soooo _gross.'

* * *

'Gwen' he said brightly, his face breaking into the kind of smile they use to advertise toothpaste. He stood up behind his desk, offering her the chair opposite.

'Thanks' she said taking a seat.

'What is the matter? You look a little tense'

'It has to stop'

His eyes darkened.

'I understand that you want to punish me for leaving'

'I could never be that petty, if I wanted you back I would have told you.'

'I won't give up on us that easily'

'I wish you would, it would be the best thing for both of us.'

'A love like ours is worth fighting for'

She strongly resisted the temptation to make spewing noises.

'I don't want you Lancelot, how much clearer can I make it?'

'I will win you back Gwen, feelings like the ones you had for me don't just evaporate'

She stood up, shaking with anger and frustration.

'You are totally deluded' she said before closing the door hard behind her.

* * *

She groaned and rolled over as her phone vibrated on her bedside table.

The caller I.D flashed _Arthur._

'Hey' she said, groggily, straightening up in bed and turning on the light.

'Hey, I'm sorry, did I wake you?'

'Erm'

'Well that's a yes' he said, 'I'm really sorry, I'll leave you to get back to sleep'

'Arthur Pendragon, you are not going anywhere, you have woken me up already so talk.'

'Jeez, you are testy when you wake up'

'Given you are calling at-' she looked across at her clock, '-half twelve, I wouldn't be too judgemental if I were you' she chastised him.

'Sorry' he grinned, 'I was in meetings all day and have been sorting out the press release for the last four hours.'

'I thought you'd just forgotten'

'Oh no' he said brightly, and before he could stop himself he added, 'it's definitely been the highlight of my day'

She blushed in the gloom.

'Sorry' he said into the silence, 'that was cheesy, can we just erase that?'

'I dunno' she shrugged, 'thought it was kind of sweet'

'Oh okay, well then don't erase it from the record'

She grinned. 'So what are you up to at the moment?'

'I'm just about to leave the office'

'You're still there?' she exclaimed.

'Yeah, well I had some paperwork to finish up.'

'So you are about to head back to Merlin's flat?'

'Yeah'

'Well you do know that my apartment is actually five minutes closer to work than Merlin's is'

'Oh really?'

'And you would have to wake up Merlin, and if you think I'm bad when I've just woken up I wouldn't advise dealing with Merlin before his morning cup of coffee.'

'I see'

'I'm only concerned for your well-being'

'I thought we said we were going to take it slow?'

'No, _you _said we should take it slow, I never agreed to anything. Besides if you really want you could sleep on the sofa'

'Sounds perfect, I'll be over in twenty minutes'

'See you then'

* * *

'Hey'

'Hey' he stammered, trying and failing not to goggle at her as she stood in the doorway wearing only a silk, plum coloured camisole and a matching pair of skimpy shorts.

'You like?' she said casually, one eyebrow arched.

'Uhuh' was all he could manage, his throat seemed to be rather constricted and his mouth very dry.

'Come on in' she smiled.

The minute the door was shut, her lips were on his. He pressed himself tightly against her form, moulding himself around her until they were a perfect fit. Her hands were under his shirt, feeling the fine

contours of his body, feeling the erratic beating of his heart. All the time her lips were locked on his. His hands were in her hair and then on the soft skin of her arms, then on the smooth silk of her cami. His

touch felt cool through the material and sent a shiver down her spine. Then his mouth was tracking its way along her collar bone. She let out a soft moan and slipped her hands down to his belt.

'Er Guinevere what are you doing?' he said pulling away from her.

She laughed, 'what do you think I'm doing?'

'Well I'm not doing anything, I told you I would be sleeping on the sofa'

She looked at him flabbergasted, 'you're not serious?'

'I am' he declared proudly, 'I'm terribly sorry to disappoint Guinevere, but when I said I wanted to go slow, I meant it'

'Arthur, you do remember that we've already slept together?'

'Yes, and it was an incredible night, but I want to wait, to do this properly'

'_Arthur' _she whined, 'how long are we talking here?'

'I dunno, when do you normally take that step in a relationship?'

'When it feels right' she said pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

'But as a general rule?' he asked in a business-like tone.

'Maybe a month if I'm really serious about the guy, but honestly Arthur there haven't been that many, so I don't really know'

'A month sounds good'

'You have got to be kidding me!'

'I'm trying to be chivalrous here' he said breathing rather more heavily than usual.

'I call it insane' she said gesticulating fiercely.

'Gwen' he said turning away, 'could you go and put on some more clothes'

'The last person to tell me to do that was my father before I went out to my first school disco'

'Yes, I understand that it might seem a little strange, but I am trying to avoid temptation here, and it is really hard'

'Bet that's not the only thing that's hard' she said with a suggestive smile, running a finger up and down his thigh.

'_Guin-e-vere_' he groaned, stepping away from her.

'I'm sorry, it was just too tempting' she grinned, but she backed away, her hands raised in surrender, 'but you are trying to be chivalrous, I get it.'

'You're not upset are you?'

'No Arthur' she smiled warmly up at him, 'confused, a little, wondering if you're a total nut job, definitely, thinking you are in some strange, twisted way being romantic, quite possibly'

He bent down and placed a gentle kiss to her lips. He moved closer to her, pressing one hand to the small of her back, threading the other through her hair.

She pulled away 'oh crap I didn't make up the sofa bed'

'Thought you were getting lucky tonight?' he grinned.

'What, lucky with _you_ coming over?' she said in mock confusion.

He gave her a playful shove.

'Couldn't I just crash in with you?'

'Arthur, haven't you been arguing against that since you arrived?'

'Sleeping in the same bed doesn't mean it's compulsory to have sex you know Gwen. Or is your self control that poor?' he grinned.

'I was more concerned for yours' she teased, 'I'm not putting on more clothes to sleep in, you do know that?'

'That's okay, you're not agitated anymore so I'll be fine'

'Agitated?'

'Er, yeah'

'You get turned on when I'm pissed off with you?'

'Erm'

She wore an incredulous grin 'oh my God, you're not telling me that when I ranted at you the second night you were here...?'

He flushed scarlet.

'So the only reason you offered to cook for me was to get in my knickers?' she teased.

'No, I honestly felt really bad' he said, his eyes wide and imploring.

'I know' she said, brushing his arm gently, 'come on then, it's gone one.'

She slipped her hand into his and led him into the bedroom.

He was midway through getting undressed when Gwen said 'you don't mind me sleeping on the left do you?'

'Nah' he said unbuttoning his shirt, 'I normally sleep in the middle at home, so it doesn't bother me'

'Thanks'

'So are there other sleeping regulations or conventions I need to know about?' he asked, throwing his trousers over the chair.

'Well I probably wouldn't shake me awake if I were you' she said as he slipped into bed beside her.

'Why?'

'I get a little aggressive apparently' she grinned, her cheeks flushed.

'Oh, well when our month is up I might try that' he winked.

He placed a brief kiss on her lips 'Goodnight Guinevere'

'Night Arthur' she said turning off the bedside lamp and relaxing against his warm chest.

* * *

_Bee-bee-beep. Bee-bee-beep. _

Gwen rolled out of Arthur's arms and turned off the alarm clock.

Arthur groaned at her movement, gradually coming to. 'Wakey-wakey, rise and shine' she said brightly, getting up and throwing open the curtains.

'No' he said sulkily, pulling a pillow over his head.

'You're taking up the CEO position officially today, so you probably shouldn't be late.'

'Please don't remind me'

She snatched the pillow from him, 'get up Arthur'

'No, it's only seven, wake me up in half an hour'

The pillow came crashing down on his head.

'Ouch'

'Up'

'You are pure evil' he moaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

'And you are grumpy'

'I was up until gone one last night'

'Yes, I know Arthur, thanks to you, so was I' she grinned, taking his hand and dragging him from the bed.

'Guinevere' he whined as she pulled him into the kitchen.

'What do you want for breakfast?' she said, her head in the fridge.

'Any orange juice?' he said bending to join her, placing a hand unconsciously on the small of her back.

She turned to look at him, finding his bright blue, smiling eyes only centimetres from her own.

'Morning' he breathed, pressing a tender kiss against her lips.

'Morning grumpy' she replied with a grin, picking up the orange juice carton and handing it to him as she straightened up.

'Would you like toast or cereal?'

'Toast sounds great. Do you want some orange juice too?'

'Yes please' she said putting two slices of bread in the toaster.

He pulled one glass out of one of the cupboards and a mug from another.

'Here you go' he said handing her the mug as they waited for the toaster to pop.

She looked down at the mug in some surprise. It was one of her strange quirks that she liked to drink her fruit juice out of a mug, to her mind it tasted better that way. And he had noticed. She grinned, kissing

him on the cheek.

The skin around the point of contact darkened, 'thanks' he said with a goofy grin.

'No thank _you_' she beamed over the rim of her mug.

* * *

They walked to the tube station hand in hand; Arthur dressed in yesterday's suit and shirt. Thankfully Gwen had the foresight to call Merlin and ask him to meet them with fresh clothes at the Wesley Road

building, where Arthur could change before heading over to work.

They chatted non-stop as they walked, only pausing briefly as they made their way through the ticket barriers. As Gwen waited for Arthur she picked up a copy of the Metro from a large stack. She thumbed

through the first few pages before she froze, staring down an article. 'Gwen?' he asked gently as he emerged from the barrier.

Then he saw the headline _'Playboy Pendragon: New CEO.' _Beneath this legend was a photograph of him between two very attractive models, an arm around each of them, his tongue stuck down the throat of

the blonde.

He shut his eyes for half a second, pinching the bridge of his nose.

'Gwen, I'm sorry'

'Its okay' she said, her voice rather faint, as if very far away, 'it says the photo was taken a year ago, so it's really not a big deal, it shouldn't be a big deal' she said biting her lip.

'But it is?'

'I'm sorry Arthur' she said shaking her head, 'I feel really bad about it, especially given how understanding you've been about the whole Lancelot thing'

'Its okay' he said looking down at his hands, staring at them as if they were the most interesting things in the world 'I totally understand'

'It's different knowing someone has a past and seeing it in the paper'

'I know and I'm really sorry Guinevere' he said heavily, 'I know it might be asking too much but could we be friends'

'What are you talking about?'

'Well I know it's normally '_can we go back to being friends?' _but we weren't really friends first so that doesn't really work.'

'Are you breaking up with me?'

'No, you're breaking up with me'

'I'm not'

'Yes you are'

'I am not'

'Yes you-'

Her mouth cut off his final word.

'I'm not' she breathed against his mouth.

'Really?' he asked with wide eyed incredulity, his blue eyes searching her deep brown ones, looking for any clue to suggest that she might be joking.

'Really' she said earnestly, putting the paper back on the pile and slipping her hand back into his.

* * *

Gwen was quiet during the course of the tube journey, not that the packed carriage encouraged much conversation. However she remained silent as they made their way out into the cold, grey London

morning, causing Arthur's nerves to mount.

'Guinevere, are you okay?' he said squeezing her hand gently.

'Uhuh' she murmured, chewing the inside of her lip.

'You want to ask me something?'

'Okay' she said taking a deep breath and dropping his hand, 'how many women have there been?'

'Er, Gwen, do you really think this is a good idea?'

'No, probably not, but I need to know Arthur'

He inhaled deeply, 'fine, I'll tell you, but please don't freak out, I know it sound like a lot but-'

'Please just tell me'

'Including you, twenty-two'

'Twenty-two?' she said blankly.

'I told you it sounds like a lot'

She let out a dry laugh, 'that is so much better than I was expecting'

'God, how many women did you think I'd slept with?'

'I was going with double that as the lower end of my estimate' she admitted.

'Shit Gwen, I didn't get around _that _much'

'I know that _now_' she laughed as relief washed over her.

'So how many men have there been?' he asked, his brow a little creased.

'Fewer than your women'

'How many?'

'You don't need to know'

'I told you how many'

'Fine' she said looking at the pavement beneath her feet, 'five including you. Happy?'

'It's a few more than I'd like, but I guess it will have to do' he teased, putting one arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss into her curls.

'Oh shut up you man-whore' she grinned, elbowing him playfully in the ribs.

'Come on' she said, wrapping her arm around his waist, 'otherwise we are going to be late for work'

* * *

'Merlin, are you a complete moron? Or are you just colour blind?'

'Well I'm not colour blind' he grinned.

'Then tell me, how did you think that I could wear a navy pinstriped suit with a pink shirt and a green tie?'

'Normally you wear really dark colours so I thought I'd liven it up a bit'

'Merlin' Gwen groaned.

'You really are a complete imbecile Merlin' Arthur snapped back, 'how am I supposed to go to a business meeting dressed like this?' he said shaking the dry cleaning bag.

'Sir?' a voice said from behind them. The three of them turned to look. It was Lancelot.

'I couldn't help but overhear that you are having a bit of a fashion crisis' he said with a grin.

'It is under control thank you Lancelot' Arthur said in clipped tones.

'Well I was just going to say that I always like to keep a spare shirt and tie at work and you could borrow them.'

'Er' he said, biting the edge of his lip. He really didn't want to be indebted to this man but he also didn't want to go into his first meeting as CEO looking like some kind of circus reject. Gwen gave him a curt brief

nod, making his decision for him, 'that would be great thanks' he said woodenly.

* * *

Lancelot quickly returned, shirt and tie in hand. 'Here you go sir' he said, passing them over.

'Arthur' he replied, 'call me Arthur' he said before slipping into the men's toilets.

'Gwen' Lancelot said turning to her as soon as Arthur had left, 'I'm sorry that I have been so pushy with you. I shouldn't have just walked back into your life and declared I wanted you back the way I did. It

wasn't fair on you.'

Merlin turned away, feeling very uncomfortable.

'I'm not saying that I don't really want to be with you. I'm just saying that it is up to you. I won't put any more pressure on you, but I will wait for you Gwen, until I am sure there is no hope for us.'

'Lancelot' she said gently, her gaze meeting his for the first time, 'there is no hope for us'

'There is always hope' he replied just as Arthur opened the toilet door.

His blue eyes flickered between them.

'Thanks for the shirt and tie, I'll get them back to you by the end of the week' he said inclining his head to Lancelot.

'No problem'

'I'd better be off Gwen, otherwise I'll be late and waking me up half an hour early will have proved totally pointless'

'Just think how late you would have been if you'd slept in' she smirked.

'True'

'Arthur Pendragon admitting he was wrong?' Merlin chipped in, 'Gwen I think that might well have been the sound of hell freezing over'

Arthur cuffed him around the head as she grinned, 'time to go Merlin'

'I'll give you a call later' Arthur said, bending down to place a kiss on Gwen's cheek, half an eye on Lancelot.

Gwen watched him and Merlin leave. As they made their way down the deserted corridor Arthur cast a glance over his shoulder. She raised her hand in a half wave while he smiled contently back at her. And

then he was gone. She let her hand fall to her side.

'So you spent the night together?' Lancelot said, cutting into her thoughts.

'Yeah'

'You are really serious about him huh?' he said, still looking at the spot where Arthur had disappeared.

'Yes, I suppose I am'

* * *

_Author's note: thanks for the lovely comments guys, hope you enjoy this chapter, next one probably won't be up for a few days due to history coursework and life getting in the way :P x_


	3. Chapter 3

He unlocked the front door. He looked around the empty apartment. A sea of black and chrome met his eyes, and spotless too, as always, thanks to his cleaner. Nothing had changed here. And yet how many

things had happened since he had last stood in this spot? He could not believe it had been less than a week.

He threw down his holdall and pressed the flashing blue light on his answering machine.

'Tuesday, eighteen forty-six' said the tinny voice of the woman from BT.

'Hey it's me' said Morgana's voice, as he hung up his dry cleaning in the closet.

'Just calling to say I hope you've got something good planned for Friday night, because Lancelot is pulling out all the stops. He wants her back really badly Arthur. I mean Gwen's totally not interested, I just

though I'd let you know. Because if you want a shot with Gwen, you can not afford to screw up now.'

'Wednesday, eleven twelve'

'Oh My God! Have you seen the papers?' Morgana's voice was shrill this time, 'has Gwen seen the papers? I wanted to ask her, but God, how to you ask someone something like that? Are you guys still

together? Christ, poor Gwen, how is she coping? But I guess she knew your reputation, but still, having it thrown in her face like that, poor Gwen. And if she hasn't ditched you already, you have to make sure

Friday night is the perfect first date.'

'Wednesday, seventeen thirty-three'

'Look Arthur' said Merlin's concerned voice, 'I know you say that you're okay with this whole Lancelot thing, but frankly I don't believe a word of it. And to be honest I don't blame you. I saw the way he was

looking at her and he is not giving up any time soon. And I know she was really understanding about the pictures, but I don't think you can afford to cause her to doubt you anymore. To be honest I think if you

mess up again now that could be it for you mate.'

'Wednesday, twenty-one eighteen'

'Hi,' said Gwen's sweet voice, 'I'm calling to say I hope your day went really well and that you totally owned everyone in the Board meeting. I thought I'd warn you that I'm totally shattered so am having an

early night so I will probably be asleep by about ten, yes I'm pathetic I know. But I was wondering if maybe you could give me a call tomorrow instead if you are going to be home late. Hope you are good and

I'll see you Friday night'

He smiled as he sat down on the sofa, all thoughts of Lancelot forgotten. _She had chosen him, in spite of everything, and that was all that mattered. Though he registered what Merlin and Morgana had said, he would _

_not screw this up. He was determined. _

* * *

'Hey' she said as she opened the door.

'Wow you look amazing'

Her cheeks burnt as she smoothed the folds of her black chiffon dress.

'Thanks, you look great too'

'Thanks' he said, nervously fiddling with his cufflinks.

There was a moment of silence. 'So shall we go?' he said rather awkwardly.

'Of course, sorry' she said blushing again, pulling on a coat and a pair of trainers.

'Well they certainly complete the look' he teased, nodding at her less than formal footwear.

'There is no way I'm wearing my stilettos down the stairs, I'd fall down them and break my neck'

'But at least you'd look stunning doing it' he grinned.

'Always a silver a lining eh?' she grinned back, throwing her bag over her shoulder and slipping her hand into his.

* * *

'Er nice car' she said as she slid into the passenger seat of the Porsche Boxster.

'Thanks, yeah it's pretty good' he said as he slipped the car into gear, 'nought to sixty in six point four seconds, not bad, and top speed of a hundred fifty-seven, not too shabby, two hundred and twenty-eight

break horse power too, though the fuel consumption is crazy, twenty-nine point one miles to the gallon -' he broke off as he caught a glimpse of Gwen's blank expression, '-and you really didn't want to know

that did you?' he said flushing furiously.

'It's okay' she said laughed, 'when I said it was a nice car I just meant that it's pretty and it has comfy seats, that's as far as my expertise extend I'm afraid'

'Not a car fanatic then?'

'Not exactly, but I have watched a fair few episodes of Top Gear in my time, and I happen to know that the measure of horse power is a ridiculous one and the only reason they still use it is because it's a

useful marketing ploy' she smirked, folding her arms across her chest smugly.

'A veritable car connoisseur' he teased.

'You'd better believe it' she grinned.

* * *

'You are going to love this place' he said opening the passenger door for her, just as she finished slipping on her stilettos, 'the food is fab and the people are great.'

'Sounds perfect' she said putting up her umbrella against the insistent British weather. He joined her underneath the umbrella and put his arm around her shoulder.

They entered the restaurant.

'Ah, hello Arthur' a young man said, 'I'll take you over to your table.'

He led them over to a booth which up the stairs, on a mezzanine floor and was right in the corner, shielded from the view of the majority of the restaurant's patrons.

They slid into the booth as the young man laid down their menus. 'Can I get you two anything to drink?'

'I'll have a coke'

'And I'll have a tap water if that's okay?' she said, deciding that wine was probably not the best choice given the sudden building of pain in her temple.

'No problem'

'Thanks' they said in unison, sharing a smile, as she pushed the pain to one side.

He looked at her across the table, the candlelight dancing in her eyes, highlighting the delicate blush in her cheeks which she wore whenever she felt his eyes on her. He memorised every line of her, every

feature he committed to memory. All except her smile. _That _he could not archive. _Yes he could note the exact curve of her lips, her perfect white teeth, the light which sparked in her eyes; but it would be an imperfect _

_record. How could he hope to replicate this sensation in the pit of his stomach?_ _It was like falling. Or soaring. Or a combination of the two. How many women had smiled at him over the years? Hundreds, probably _

_thousands. And yet none of them had made him feel like this. Not terrified, exhilarated, nauseous and totally elated, all at once. He was falling for her, and what was more, he knew it. _

Gwen looked down at the menu.

'Wow, it all looks so good' she said beaming at him.

'Get the minestrone soup and the ravioli filled with smoked scamorza cheese and the sundried tomato and basil sauce.'

She gritted her teeth into a smile and said, 'actually I'm not a big fan of minestrone'

'Oh okay, well it was just a suggestion' he said a little sharper than he had intended.

'I've just got to nip to the bathroom' Arthur said, getting up.

'Okay'

'See you in a minute.'

Within seconds he was back. She looked up from her menu startled, 'that was quick.'

'We have to go now' he said frantically.

'Why?'

'There are reporters here' he said taking her hand, before she was even able to throw on her jacket.

He pushed open the fire escape, pulled her down the steps and into the dingy alleyway.

Her hair was soon sodden, not having been given the time, or the free hands to put up her umbrella.

'Arthur, stop' she said after nearly having snapped her heel on a paving slab, 'what are we doing?'

'Not being photographed by reporters. I don't know how they knew I was here, I will be having words with Joseph about this, we are supposed to have a privacy agreement' he said, running an agitated hand

through his wet hair.

'Okay, so it's not great, but why did we have to leave?'

'Because they might have seen us' he said with a cool condescension which immediately riled Gwen.

'And would that have been the end of the world?'

'They would have taken photos Guinevere'

'And?'

'They would have been in tomorrow's papers' he snapped.

'Oh so _now_ you care about people taking photos of you with girls?'

'What-' he began.

'Or would it have been okay if you'd had your tongue down my throat?'

'Don't turn this into something it's not' he said, shaking with anger now.

'Then tell what this _is_ Arthur'

'I just don't want my Dad finding out, okay?'

'Your Dad doesn't know about us?'

'No'

'You haven't told him'

'Of course I haven't'

'Oh of course' she said sarcastically.

'Look he'll only get pissed off. And what's the point?'

'What's the point?' she repeated faintly.

She stood there in the pouring rain, her dress plastered to her skin, her umbrella held limp and useless in her hand. _It was then that the freefall ended. It was then that she reconvened with the Earth. It was then _

_that a wave of hurt struck her full on. It was then that she wished she had taken the parachute._

'Gwen?' he said, looking with horror at the effect his words had produced, though he was not entirely sure why she was staring at him as if he had struck her.

'I should get home' she said hollowly.

'Why don't we go somewhere else? Forget about this'

'I'm not feeling well'

'Oh okay, well I'll drive you home'

'I'd rather take the tube'

'You'll get soaked'

She let out a harsh dry laugh as she looked down at her clothes.

'I need a walk Arthur'

'You're angry and I don't understand why'

She gave him a cool look.

'Okay, well I know I've done something, said something'

'Night Arthur' she said as she felt her anger rising to the surface once more.

He watched her walk away into the gloom, pointlessly pulling on her jacket and putting up her umbrella. The damage was already done.

He wanted to call out to her. Wanted to talk to her. To make everything better. But he didn't have the right words. So he stood there, the rain thudding down on his shoulders, and watched her walk away.

* * *

She bit her lip, praying that the tears welling in her eyes would not spill over. _How could she have been so stupid? Why_ _had she said the things she had? Why had she brought up the photos? The truth was, she _

_knew exactly why, she just couldn't bear to admit it because it sounded so pathetic. Honestly, she didn't believe she was good enough for him. He should be dating models and film stars and beautiful bimbos. He _

_shouldn't have looked twice at a girl like her. The photos had bothered her so much because she felt that those leggy models had fitted him better than she ever could. She was not insecure by nature but this feeling, _

_whatever it was, coiling its way around her heart, made her question the stability of the very ground she stood upon. Tonight she had needed a little reassurance, as childish as that might sound, and all he had done _

_was to reinforce her doubts. She was angry at him for that, but even more than that, she was furious with herself. Why had she been so funny about his dad not knowing? Again, the honest part of herself answered. _

_Because her whole family knew about them. Because she had spent an hour on the phone to her dad on Wednesday night trying to calm him down after he had seen the photos in the paper, and then had been forced to _

_deal with an irate Simon who was threatening Arthur with grievous bodily harm. She had done all this without hesitation, without regret or misgivings but he could not even bear to tell his own father, and what was _

_more, he couldn't see the point. __**Couldn't see the point. **__ That was what had hurt the most. The fact that he could see no reason for telling his father, did he really see it ending so quickly that his father would never _

_need to know? _

_Honestly, she had not really wanted pictures of her and Arthur to end up in the paper for her co-workers to see. They would view her as the girl who was prepared to sleep with her boss to get a promotion. But she would _

_have accepted that as the price for her happiness. She would have lived with the disparagement of her peers until they realised that she and Arthur were in it for the long haul. Or maybe not as it turned out._

* * *

He sat down in the driver's seat of his car, slamming the door shut rather harder than was strictly necessary. He looked through the misted windscreen, unable to see the world outside through the sheets

ofrain.

He thumped the steering wheel. He ran a hand through his wet hair, leaning back in the seat and breathing heavily.

_How could he have been so stupid? How had he just let her walk away? Why hadn't he told her what she meant to him? Yes he was angry with her. Why had she flown off the handle at him like that? Why had she _

_thrown the photo back in his face? Why had she looked at him like that? He didn't understand it, and he half hated himself for it. He had lost her and he had no idea how._

* * *

She slipped off her stilettos and climbed the stairs bare foot, having left her bag and trainers in Arthur's car, her migraine growing all the while. Though all she could think as she made her way up the stairs

was that she needed to talk to someone. But she could not go to Merlin or Morgana. She was sure she was right in thinking Merlin might well be Arthur's only true friend so she would not set Merlin against

him. And she could not bear the thought of causing a rift in the relationship between Morgana and her brother. So she unlocked her apartment door and slipped inside.

She saw the flashing light of the answering machine. For a moment her heart leapt with hope that it might be a message from Arthur, and a second later she despised herself for such a wish. She pressed the

'play' button.

'Hey Gwen it's me' said Lancelot's voice, 'just calling to say I hope you have a great time with Arthur tonight. I've realised that all that matters is that you are happy, so if you are happy with him I will just have

to learn to live with it. So I am here is as your friend, nothing more, nothing less. I am here whenever you need me, Gwen. Just call and I'll be there. No strings, no stipulations. Sorry, now I'm rambling, I just

wanted to let you know I'm here and that I'm cool with the whole you and Arthur thing. Not that you need my permission or anything, just that I respect your decision and I hope he deserves you.'

The dam burst inside her and now the tears fell.

* * *

'Hey'

'Arthur?' Merlin said looking perplexed, 'what on Earth are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on a date with Gwen?'

'We had a massive fight' he said hollowly.

'Shit'

Arthur nodded numbly.

'What did you do?' Merlin shot accusatorily.

'I don't actually know' he said looking completely shell-shocked.

'Are you alright mate?' Merlin asked, now rather concerned.

'I'm fine' he said dazedly, 'but I want you to go and make sure Gwen's okay, she walked home in the rain and she wasn't feeling well. I want you to find out if she's coming down with something. I wouldn't ask

Merlin but I need to know that she's okay' he pleaded, desperation in his voice.

'I get it' he said patting his friend's shoulder gently, 'but are you sure you're okay?'

'I will be fine once I know Gwen's alright'

'I'll head over now'

'Oh and could you take her bag over, she left it in my car' he said holding out Gwen's handbag to him.

'Is there anything you would like me to tell her?'

'That I hope she's okay and that if she needs anything, all she has to do is ask'

'Okay' he said pulling Arthur into an awkward hug.

'Thanks Merlin' he said gruffly.

* * *

'Hey Merlin' Gwen sniffed, pulling open her apartment door, 'sorry, I'm a bit of a mess, I'm not feeling all that well'

'Arthur told me what happened, he wanted me to come over and make sure you were alright'

She felt her heart soften, as a half smile found its way to her lips.

'I can't believe it' he said shaking his head, 'I mean I was taken aback by you guys becoming an item at first, but then when I heard you guys talk about each other, well it seemed like the most natural thing in

the world. I can't believe it's over'

'Over?' she repeated faintly.

'If it helps, he's really down. I left him on the sofa watching re-runs of Emmerdale. Oh here's your bag by the way' he said holding it out to her. She stared down at it blankly for a moment.

'Thanks Merlin' she said remembering herself, 'oh and I've got something I need you to return to him.'

She disappeared into the bedroom and emerged a second later, a pair of blue checked boxers in her hand.

'Eww, Gwen do I have to take them?'

'They are clean' she said coldly.

'Yeah but-'

'Please just take them Merlin' she said, her eyes swimming with the beginnings of fresh tears, 'I can't have them here'

He grimaced and took them.

'Thanks' she said trying to smile.

'Oh Gwen' he said pulling her into a tight hug as sobs began to wrack her body.

'I can't believe that's it' she said into his shoulder, over and over again, 'One stupid fight and that's it'

He stroked her curls to soothe her.

'I was falling for him Merlin' she let out a choked laugh, 'all the guys in the world and I end up falling for him'

'Sssh' he rocked her back and forth in his arms.

She pulled away from him suddenly, and pulled herself together.

'Sorry Merlin' she said too brightly, 'how embarrassing'

'Gwen?'

'I'll be fine' she said hitching a wide smile onto her face, 'just give me some time'

'Okay' he said warily.

'And please don't blame him' she entreated him.

'Fine' he said, smiling weakly at the earnestness of her plea. _She really cared about him._

He considered relaying the second half of Arthur's message. But he didn't feel she was ready for that yet. Not after _that_ confession. He would leave it a while.

'You'd better get back to Arthur' she said in a totally neutral voice.

'Yeah' he said turning to leave.

'Oh there's a dramatisation of Jane Eyre on tonight on BBC Three, he might like it. I mean, he'll probably enjoy it more than watching Emmerdale, though-'

'Gwen' he said touching her hand tenderly.

'I'll be fine' she said seriously.

'You don't want me to stay?'

'Arthur sounds like he needs you more than I do. Besides Morgana is coming over in a minute' she lied smoothly.

'Oh okay' he said, 'night Gwen and just give me a call if you need anything' he said pressing a kiss to her forehead.

* * *

'You're back already?' Arthur said looking up at him and away from the television screen where the titles for Jane Eyre were already rolling.

Arthur's eyes followed his gaze, 'you can change the channel if you want'

'No' Merlin said, a small lump forming in his throat, 'it's okay'

'Gwen gave me a pair of your boxers to return' he said pulling them out of his jacket pocket.

'Thanks' Arthur said taking them from him, 'but why didn't she return them herself?'

'I reckon the idea of handing back her ex-boyfriend's boxers herself probably didn't really appeal, not right now anyway.'

'Ex?' he said, his voice almost a whisper.

'I think it's pretty understandable that she wouldn't want them lying around to be honest'

'I guess' he said blankly, focusing his eyes on the TV screen. _One stupid fight and that was it? That was all he got? Well Merlin and Morgana had been right, he had been on his last chance and he hadn't even known _

_it. How had he screwed this up so quickly? _

* * *

She pulled out the cardboard box of her mum's stuff and riffled frantically through the letters, searching for the one she needed.

**Heartbreak**

**Dear Gwen,**

**I know it is hard to believe, but it will get easier. I know that right now it feels like your heart is being ripped in two, but it will mend. This I promise you. You will move on. You will not forget him, but **

**you will begin to forget this pain. It will take time, but time will fix you. You will meet someone new and one day this might not seem like such a tragedy. But for now, it is a tragedy, so mope, mourn **

**for what has been lost. By do not lose yourself in this pain Gwen. Nothing is worth that. You are hurting now and I wish I could be there with you, holding your hand, telling you everything will be **

**alright. Telling you that he is a prat for walking away, telling you that he was lucky you ever even looked at him, telling you that he is a fool, that he never deserved you in the first place.**

**So you have before you, a choice. You can sit around wondering what went wrong, can hide your pretty face and open heart from the world, or you can move on and find someone else. All I can hope **

**for is that you find someone as equally good for you as your father was for me. Someone who challenges you, someone who makes you smile, someone who makes you feel beautiful. Someone who **

**will love you despite your flaws and you will love him though he is far from perfect.**

**I have so many dreams for you Guinevere, but the one that is central, the only one that really matters, is that you are content.**

**All my love**

**Mum xxx**

**P.S. apologies if the gender references are wrong, I really don't mind if you bat for the other side, it doesn't make any difference to me x**

She had only read this letter a handful of times. But on the few occasions she had, it had brought her comfort, it had made her feel a tiny bit more optimistic. But now her mother's words struck her hard, almost

like physical blows. _Someone who challenges you, someone who makes you smile, someone who makes you feel beautiful..._ when she had read those words before a nameless stranger had come to mind. But now

as she read and re-read the words all she could see was a pair of bright blue eyes.

* * *

_Author's note: apologies for the crappiness of this chapter, I really don't like it, however I could not bear to re-work it, it was depressing enough writing it the first time round. And don't worry, things will pick up in the next chapter hopefully, mainly because I can't write another chapter like this. And the next chapter will also have a bit of episode 4ness going on, due to numerous pleas from the lovely AngelGirl1992. Hope you didn't hate this chapter as much as I did, the next one will be better I promise (or hope desperately :P) x_


	4. Chapter 4

'So how is Gwen doing? Any improvement?' Merlin said as they sat down at a table.

'She's pretending to fine, she's still pretending that there's nothing wrong, though I reckon she's just trying to avoid dealing with it, which isn't like Gwen. She's not the type to stick her head in the sand. But

what about Arthur?'

'Well you saw his face at the meeting this morning. That pretty much sums up the last four days. He spent the whole weekend moping. He talks in monosyllables and he's just totally immersing himself in work.

He's up at six and works til gone twelve-'

'How do you know?'

'Because he calls me at half two in the morning to ask me where the files on the expenses for the Finance Department between 1998 and 2004 are, that's how'

'So he's not dealing with it either?'

'Nope' he said taking a deep swing of his mocha latte and choking as he scalded the inside of his mouth.

She arched a disdainful eyebrow as he stuck out his tongue and proceeded to fan it frantically, 'have you managed to find out exactly what happened?'

'Nah, they are both keeping total mum on the subject'

Morgana let out an irritable huff of air.

'Both of them are prepared to talk it out, but only if the other initiates the conversation which neither is willing to do because they both feel the other is to blame and consequently that they shouldn't have to

be the one to apologise. And because neither will tell me what happened, I don't know what to do, I don't know who is to blame'

'My money is on Arthur' she said over the rim of her coffee cup.

'I dunno, he seems pretty torn up about it, and Gwen was really cool about the photos, I don't know what he could have done that was _so_ much worse than that, not this quickly.'

'Gwen is miserable, whatever she tells everyone, and I can't imagine her doing anything to hurt him, to be honest I can't imagine Gwen ever doing anything to hurt _anyone_.'

'Well I'm out of ideas'

'Why the hell can't they just sort it out?' she shouted in frustration, banging her fist on the table.

'Ssshhh' hissed Merlin as the patrons of Starbucks turned as one to stare at the pair of them.

'Sorry' she whispered, a faint blush rising in her pale cheeks.

'So what are we going to do?' she whispered, leaning across the little table.

'Get some Rocky Road?' Merlin asked, his eyes on the counter where a vast array of biscuits and cakes sat on display.

'No' she said administering a swift blow to the top of his head, 'what are we going to do about Arthur and Gwen?'

'I keep trying to get them in the same room, I've been trying to coordinate their schedules for the last three days, I even tried one of those group phone call things. That lasted all of three seconds, I'm still not

sure who hung up first, I have a feeling Gwen might have managed to pip Arthur to the post but it was fractional.'

'So no luck so far huh?'

'Not yet no' he said glumly.

'You are no good at this stealth thing are you Merlin?' she teased, 'I doubt you could keep a secret to save your life'

'Hey!' he protested 'at least I'm trying, what are you doing?' he said accusingly.

'Trying to stop Lancelot sniffing around'

'It's your fault he's here in the first place'

'Don't you think I know that? I feel so bad about it. But that is why I'm trying to make up for it now'

'By stopping Lancelot from getting his dirty hands on her?'

'Exactly' she said triumphantly, 'he's been asking her to lunch everyday this week and I just happened to pop along too'

'But what excuse did you use for that? I swear you never eat'

'I do eat, I just don't eat constantly unlike someone I know' she said with a smirk and an arched eyebrow.

'Why can't I get some Rocky Road?' Merlin sulked, his arms folded across his chest, looking wistfully at the cakes.

'Merlin' she said, snapping her fingers, 'would you stop thinking about your stomach for one second? We need to get back to the problem at hand. So far I have been doing pretty well on the Lancelot front, I

haven't even left them in the staffroom alone, not even when I really needed the bathroom-'

'Okay I really didn't need to know that'

'-but I'm going to Prague tonight and I'm not getting back until Friday night, so that leaves you responsible for Lancelot Watch, as well as looking after Arthur and Gwen, can you manage it?'

'Well I can try' he shrugged, 'but I can't watch Lancelot and Gwen all the time like you can'

'I know, but if you can just call her loads, maybe remind her how great Arthur is a few times a day' she paused, then amended 'or a few times an hour?'

'I will try my best' Merlin said with a weak smile.

'And while I'm awhile I will attempt to devise a strategy to get them back together' she said in a business-like tone.

'I thought you didn't like the idea of them as a couple'

'Not true, I don't like the idea of them having sex, that's a totally different matter' she said taking a sip of coffee.

'But they only had sex that one time'

Morgana nearly spat out her coffee at this 'you're kidding'

'I'm not' Merlin grinned, 'yeah, I was pretty shocked when I found out too'

'How do you know this Merlin?' she asked suspiciously.

'Er'

'Merlin?'

'Well I might have accidently overheard Arthur mentioning it while he was on the phone to her one night when he was staying with me' he said flushing a guilty scarlet.

'You eavesdropped?' she shot with narrowed eyes.

'No'

'So was Arthur pushing her a bit?'

'Nope' he said shaking his head with an annoyingly wide, knowing smile.

'Then what?'

'He was the one who wanted to wait. He said he wanted to do it properly or something like that, wanted to take it slow'

'Shit' she whispered under her breath, 'my brother's a romantic and I didn't even know. You don't reckon my forcing him to watch rom coms throughout his teenage years turned him soft do you?'

'I'm sorry Morgana but I don't think that you can claim credit for that, I have a feeling it has much more to do with Gwen'

'He's totally besotted isn't he?'

Merlin paused for a moment, as if to ponder over his reply, 'hell yeah'

'Promise me you will keep an eye on Lancelot' she said her eyes filled with a deep concern for her brother and best friend.

'I will do everything that is humanly possible to keep him away from Gwen'

'And I will plan our next move on the way to Prague' she said with grim determination, 'now go and get your Rocky Road' she nodded at the cakes, an indulgent smile on her face.

* * *

'Hey Gwen' he said pushing open her office door.

'Lancelot' she said in weary tones, looking up from her monitor.

'I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch with me again today'

'I'm actually going to work through lunch today' she said, her eyes back on the screen, 'I've got a report to finish'

'Well I'll just eat lunch in here' he said taking the seat opposite her.

She ran a hand through her tangled curls, 'you don't want to do that, I'll be really poor company'

'I don't mind'

She sighed, 'yeah, but I kind of do' she said as gently as possible.

'I'll be really quiet' he said, miming zipping up his mouth and throwing away the key.

'When I said I wanted to work through lunch' she said, gritting her teeth, 'I meant _alone'_

'Oh right' he said getting up from his chair, 'sorry to have bothered you' he added a little coolly.

'I'm sorry Lancelot' she said as he turned to leave, 'I understand that you are just trying to be a good friend and all, it's just a bit weird for me'

'Its okay' he smiled gently, 'well I will be here anytime you need me'

'As my friend?'

'As anything you want me to be'

'As my friend' she said firmly.

* * *

She flicked open her mobile phone. _Why had Morgana not called yet? She should be back in London by now. The launch party was in three and a half hours and Morgana normally needed at least that just to have her _

_hair and make up done. _

Her mobile vibrated against the desk.

'Morgana, thank God, I thought you'd abandoned me'

'Er'

'What?'

'I'm still in Prague'

'What?'

'I am so sorry babe'

'Morgana' she whined.

'There's been a load of snow here, but it's stopped now and they are shovelling snow of the runway as we speak. I'm hoping it will be clear in the next hour or so'

'But the launch party?'

'I will get over there as soon as I can'

'You want me to go by myself?'

'Not by yourself necessarily, you could take someone' she said before saying, in a way she clearly considered off-hand, 'you could take Arthur'

'I will hang up'

'Ok fine' she said quickly, 'not Arthur then. What about Merlin?'

'He's watching the footie with Arthur tonight'

'No chance he could get out of it?'

'I'm not going to ask, Arthur needs this, I won't take it away from him, besides I won't force Merlin to choose between us'

'You do realise it would just be a whole lot simpler if you guys just made up'

Gwen snapped the phone shut.

* * *

'Hey Merlin'

'Lancelot' he said replying with a curt nod, 'what are you doing here? You work in Morgana's department'

'Well you know how before I left I organised rugby matches with guys from work most weeks?'

Merlin nodded.

'I was thinking I would start it up again, now that I'm back. But I'm currently trying to round up a few more players for Saturday, seeing as Greg and William couldn't make it. You wouldn't be interested would

you Merlin?'

'Er no'

'Come on Merlin, you would hardly have to do anything'

'No'

'Gwen's going'

'Oh really?' Merlin said with an arched smile, 'fine, sign up me _and_ Arthur to play'

'I only actually need one player' Lancelot said quickly.

'Great, well Arthur can play and I can be a sub'

'Er I don't think it's really Arthur's thing if I'm honest'

'What's not my thing?' Arthur said from the doorway, a scowl on his face.

'The guys from work are playing rugby on Saturday morning and we were kind of low on numbers' Lancelot said hesitantly, 'Merlin said you'd do it but I thought you would probably have better things to do,

besides I hear you're a footie man yourself' he couldn't help the faint note of scorn which entered his voice as he pronounced the word 'footie,' something which Arthur did not fail to notice.

'And you don't think I can play rugby?' he asked, his eyes narrowed and calculating.

'I just think that maybe the game might be a little-' he paused '-rough for you'

'Thank you for your concern' Arthur replied coolly, 'but I am perfectly capable of looking after myself Lancelot. So count me in'

'Er' Lancelot said, wracking his brains for another reason which would prevent Arthur from attending, but his mind would not work fast enough.

'What time is kick-off?'

'Nine thirty at the Camelot grounds down the road'

'Sounds perfect, me and Merlin will be there'

'With bells on' Merlin added with a grin.

* * *

She finished adding the final touches to her hair which was pinned back in a low loose bun. She pulled a face as she looked herself up and down in the mirror. She really wasn't in the mood for this. She threw

on her jacket, over her halter neck top and dark jeans. She slipped her trainers onto her feet and her silver stilettos into her handbag. She looked around her apartment, hoping to find something that needed

doing, something out of place, anything to delay the inevitable awkwardness of tonight.

She sat down in the bus shelter outside the club and pulled on her stilettos as she wondered what the point of her being there was. She had tried giving Morgana a call but there had been no answer. She had

managed to do the buyers meeting alone, but this was another kettle of fish entirely. _Kettle of fish? What a ridiculous phrase_ she thought, _who even uses phrases like that? Did people ever put fish in kettles? Why _

_would you put a fish in a kettle? Out of all the places to put a fish, surely a kettle wasn't the most logical one. _

_Okay_ she had to admit it, _she was stalling here. _Hoping desperately that her guardian angel might save her from the humiliation that was about to ensue. This launch party was about forging contacts, about

schmoozing highflyers in the business world, and Gwen had no idea how to do that. It had always been Morgana's domain, she would work the room, never staying in one group too long while Gwen skulked

behind her until she found someone interesting to talk too. If there was no interesting conversation to be had she would find herself at the bar sipping a cocktail until Morgana finally announced it was time to

leave. _But tonight would be different _she vowed, _tonight she would be a social butterfly_.

* * *

Within two hours she found herself at the bar on her second Cosmopolitan, her resolve broken and her brain feeling sore, a state induced less by the vodka in her drink but by the mundane conversation.

'Not enjoying the party either?' A man in his early thirties said, coming over to sit beside her.

'Maybe I would be if I knew anything about software engineering' she smiled, glad to have someone to talk to.

He laughed, 'so what's your name and where do you come from?'

'Gwen and I'm from the Pendragon Group' she said taking a sip of her drink, 'what about you?'

'Matthew, the Co-operative'

'Oh really?' she said, her interest immediately caught, 'didn't they reject a massive electronics deal with the Pendragon Group a couple of months back?'

'Yes'

'Why was that?'

'Unfortunately our ethics code would not allow it'

'Well I think your company made a mistake and should reconsider'

'And why is that?' he said leaning in, one eyebrow arched.

'Because Arthur Pendragon has taken over as C.E.O and one of his first decisions in his new position was to begin a review of the Group's ethics code. Besides it would be a fantastic opportunity for both parties.'

'Yes but don't the Board have the final say on any decisions made by Mr Pendragon?'

'Indeed' she said with a sly smile, 'but if the Co-operative was to make its offer now on the basis that the ethics of the company would have to change, I think that might prove a strong inducement for the

Board to accept Mr Pendragon's proposal. They tend to be very obliging when a multi-million pound deal is on the line'

'Okay, but the Pendragon Group stands to gain far more from this deal than my company would, what with the positive publicity which something like this would generate, I imagine that would prove invaluable

particularly at present. The Co-operative is an ethical organisation, not a charity, what would be in it for us?'

'Firstly, even with changes to our ethics code we would still be cheaper than your current supplier and Mr Pendragon has made it clear he would be happy to invest in the Co-operative, help them straighten

out their books a bit'

'Our books are fine'

'In most areas, yes, but I happen to know that your company is considering cuts in its training department, a mistake in my opinion'

'How do you even know about that?' he asked, his eyes wide.

'I do my research Matthew' she said with a winning smile.

'So you reckon that the Co-operative should approach the Pendragon Group about renegotiating the deal?'

'I think so yes, but it will never happen'

'And why not?'

'Because I doubt your Board would go for it'

'I could talk to them'

She giggled, 'that's very sweet but I don't think they would take it very seriously.'

'I think they would, given I'm a member'

She nearly spat out a mouthful of Cosmopolitan, 'I'm so sorry' she spluttered, 'I had no idea'

'I never would have guessed' he said with a grin.

'I wasn't trying some kind of hard sell'

'I know Gwen, but it was very effective'

She blushed.

'Well I will give the rest of the Board a call before Monday and we will see where it goes from there'

'Brilliant' she beamed.

'And if I wanted to call you, just to let you know how things were going with the deal...?'

'That would be great' she said pulling a pen out of her bag and scribbling her work number down on a napkin.

'And if I wanted to call for a non-work related reason...?'

'What-' she began before comprehension dawned on her, 'I'm sorry Matthew but I'm-' she broke off, trying to think how best to phrase it.

'Already involved with someone?' he offered.

'Yeah, I guess you could say that' she said with an apologetic smile, 'sorry'

'Its okay' he said with a jaunty smile, 'I figured that was probably the case, but I thought I might as well ask. It was nice to meet you anyway' he said getting up, 'it doesn't take much to realise you are a

pretty unusual woman Gwen, I just hope that man of yours realises how lucky he is.'

'Thanks' she said with a half smile.

'And I will update you on Monday' he said waving the napkin.

'Thank you Matthew'

'Thank you Gwen'

* * *

She watched him leave with a strange contortion of emotion in her stomach. She was furious with herself, he had been a nice guy, funny, smart and good looking too, just the kind of man she would be

interested in. Or just the kind of guy she would have been interested in _before_. She had only been with Arthur less than a week for God's sake. She felt pathetic. She was mooning over a guy who didn't want

her and had probably had no trouble getting over her. If he had been in her situation he probably wouldn't have thought twice about giving his number to some attractive stranger. _Who was she kidding? _She

knew full well from Morgana and Merlin's frequent and unhelpful reports that Arthur was miserable. A fact which didn't seem to help matters. It was that fact which had made her stomach churn with guilt at the

thought of giving her number to Matthew. She still felt like Arthur's. And he still felt like hers. _But it didn't make any sense_ she thought furiously, _he had broken up with her, and through Merlin too no less. _

* * *

She left the club, feeling slightly worse for wear. After Matthew's departure she had tried to circulate around the room again, however after her fifth cocktail and yet another debate about which she know

nothing- this time it was the difference between Supercomputing and High-performance computing- her head began to ache.

Morgana had never shown so she headed back to the tube station alone. She just debating whether or not to stop and change into her trainers when someone grabbed her bag which was clasped under her

arm. Caught unawares and slightly off-balance she fell forwards into the hard pavement as the bag was torn from her grasp.

She looked up from the cold hard ground to see the hooded man sprint into the darkness. She looked up and down the street. She was alone. She felt a wave of nausea sweep through her as a dark warmth

spread across her right knee, causing the denim of her jeans to stick sickeningly to the broken flesh. She winced as she got unsteadily to her feet, the fall having snapped the heel of her right shoe. She pulled

her jacket more tightly about herself and fought off the tears which threatened to fall. She was in a strange part of the city, alone, her jacket pockets were empty but for a handful of change and her apartment

keys. _Thankfully she had not lost those, because that would have meant changing all the locks._ In her head she ran through the credit cards she would have to cancel, the phone she would have to replace, the

pair of new trainers she would have to buy. But all that would have to wait. For now she had to work out how to get home. Almost all of her money as well as her oyster card had been in that bag. It was half

past one in the morning and all the shops on the street were dark. _Twenty-four hour city my arse, _she thought bitterly.

* * *

She walked, or rather hobbled, up the street until she found a phone box. Unfortunately vandals had found it first, a fact made clear by the fact that the handset was no longer connected to the wall.

'Shit' she breathed.

She proceeded to make her slow, awkward, painful way up the road, and after ten minutes had found a working phone box.

She picked up the phone, inserted fifty pence and dialled Merlin's home number.

It rang and rang.

Before it could go on his voicemail she put down the receiver.

She put in another fifty pence and tried Simon.

Again nothing.

_Why the hell didn't people pick up their phones?_

Desperate now that she was down to her last pound she called Morgana.

'Hey' said Morgana's voice, a little muffled.

'Hi' Gwen said, her throat tight.

'Gwen?'

'Yeah'

'How was the party?'

'I got mugged, I'm stuck in the South End, I have no money, no phone, my heel is broken and my knee really hurts' Gwen sobbed into the receiver, 'can you come and pick me up?'

'I'm still-' then her voice cut out.

'Morgana?'

'Yes'

'Sorry I couldn't hear you, your reception is really bad'

'I'm still in Prague' Morgana's voice crackled over the air waves, but Gwen could tell there was panic in her voice.

'I will call a taxi or something for you-' the line cut out again.

Gwen clung to the phone and waited for a long moment before giving up hope and hanging up.

_Great, so no one knew where she was, she was now out of money and Morgana was still in Prague. Well a six mile walk in broken heels wasn't exactly something she had bargained on, but standing around thinking _

_about it wasn't going to make it any more pleasant._

* * *

_What was that incessant noise? That high pitched ringing? It was really irritating, and very close at hand. _Arthur rolled over with a groan, it was his phone. _Who the hell was calling him at this hour?_

'Uhuh' he mumbled as he picked up the phone.

'Arthur' came Morgana's voice, high and breathy. She was clearly on the verge of tears.

'Calm down Morgana and tell me what's wrong'

* * *

'Get your butt out of bed Merlin!' Arthur shouted down at his friend who was sleeping deeply in the spare room.

'What the-' Merlin began as Arthur dragged him bodily from the double bed.

'Grab a jacket' Arthur said as he pulled a hoody over his bare chest and yesterday's suit trousers over his boxers.

'What's going on?' Merlin asked scratching his head, his eyes blurred with sleep.

'Gwen got mugged and is somewhere in South End, we are going to find her'

'Couldn't you do it and leave me to go back to sleep?' Merlin joked.

'You're doing directions' Arthur said thrusting a map into his friend's stomach with a force which suggested he did not appreciate his sense of humour.

Arthur sprinted down the stairs and into the building's car park. He waited impatiently as the garage door crept upwards, far too slowly for his liking.

Arthur was already in the driver's seat by the time Merlin reached the car park, a searing stitch in his side.

'So Gwen is somewhere between the nightclub and her apartment?'

'I hope so, otherwise we have no idea where she is'

'Okay take the first left' Merlin said looking down at the map, 'oh no, actually make that the next right, I had the map upside down'

'For fuck's sake Merlin!'

'Sorry' he said quietly, before adding, 'you are really worried about her aren't you?' he said as he studied his friend's face, there was tension in every line of it and fear trembled in his eyes and his bottom lip.

'Yes'

'Um Arthur could we maybe slow down a bit?' Merlin said nervously as the needle of the speedometer crept past sixty.

'All I care about is not wasting any more time'

'Ah well they do say love makes you do crazy things' Merlin grinned clinging onto the sides of his seat as Arthur turned a bend sharply.

'What are you talking about?' Arthur said through gritted teeth.

'Why can't you just admit your feelings for her?'

'Because there's no point, we are over, she doesn't care for me and to admit my feelings knowing that, it would hurt too much'

'She feels as you do'

'She doesn't, she would have called or something if she did'

'But you haven't called her?'

'No, but she ended it so she should be the one to call me if she's changed her mind'

'But-' Merlin began before glancing down at his map again, 'oh shit, you should have turned right there Arthur'

He performed a swift U-turn in the road. _He seriously needed to buy a Sat-nav. _

* * *

After about half an hour of walking she took off her shoes, hoping that might make it a little less awkward, but her feet were quickly frozen and sore and within another ten minutes she was putting them back

on. She had just turned the corner onto the main road when a car pulled up beside her. As this had already happened a few times and had been accompanied by invitations which Gwen had politely declined,

her face scarlet in the glare of the headlights. So this time she did not even bother to turn around.

'Gwen!'

She spun around. Relief flooded her as her gaze found a familiar pair of eyes.

* * *

They made their way down the main road at a reasonable speed, both pairs of eyes scouring the pavements for a sign of Gwen.

Then he spotted her on the other side of the road. She was limping and looked a little shaken, but on the whole, not too bad, considering.

'I see her!' Merlin shouted bouncing up and down in his seat.

Arthur pulled into a side road to turn around.

'Shit' he breathed as they got back onto the main road, 'I totally forgot, this is only a two-seater'

'Gwen can sit on my lap'

'Fat chance' Arthur grinned, 'you can go in the boot'

As it turns out they needn't have worried.

A Ford Focus pulled up just ahead of them, right beside Gwen.

At first she ignored the car then the driver stuck his head out of the window. 'Gwen!' shouted Lancelot.

Merlin looked at Arthur. His face was pale, his eyes focused fixedly on the road as he cancelled his indicator. 'Are you alright?' Merlin asked tentatively.

'I'm fine Merlin' he snapped, 'do I not look fine, because I feel fine, I think I look fine, which is appropriate given that I am in fact totally fine'

'Right' Merlin said with the ghost of a smile flitting across his mouth, 'so you're fine then?'

He watched as Arthur's Adam's apple bobbed painfully in his throat, 'I'm fine' he forced himself to say.

After a moment of silence Merlin spoke, 'how come we are going this way?'

'I thought I'd drop you back home'

'Oh really?'

'Yeah'

'So that's why we are following Lancelot's car?'

'Yeah, because you live near Gwen'

'Yes, but we could also take the next turning on the right, it's a shortcut'

'I would actually prefer to stay on the main road'

'Why, because that way we can follow Lancelot?'

'No, because I want to make sure Guinevere gets home safely'

'Okay' he replied, raising his hands in mock defeat, 'I_ totally_ believe that's the only reason'

Arthur swerved slightly as he leant across to give Merlin a good whack round the head.

* * *

'Who's the prat in the Porsche?' Lancelot said as the car behind him swerved to the right.

Gwen looked in the rear view mirror and her eyes met a pair of perfect blue ones. She looked quickly away, 'I dunno' she mumbled unnecessarily in response to his rhetorical question.

She stared out of the window, hoping to avoid Lancelot's questions and the sight of Arthur.

'Hang on' Lancelot said as they stopped at a set of traffic around the corner from Gwen's building, 'isn't that Arthur and Merlin?'

'Er' she said evasively, 'I don't know, the glare from the headlights makes it pretty difficult to tell.'

'That is definitely Arthur and Merlin' he said twisting around in his seat to get a good view.

Once the lights had turned green Lancelot pulled up in the bus stop.

Arthur followed suit.

'But we're not back at mine yet' Gwen said in a small panicked voice, looking between Lancelot who had opened the driver's door and Arthur who was already stepping out of his car.

'I know' Lancelot said coolly, his eyes focused on Arthur.

Gwen watched as Merlin scrambled out of the passenger seat. She was very tempted to remain in the car and to leave Lancelot and Arthur to fight it out, whatever they were arguing over now. However her

conscience would not allow it, especially if it had something to do with her, as she suspected it might from the look on the two men's faces.

'What are you doing here Arthur?' Lancelot said as he approached him.

'I came to make sure Gwen was safe'

'Well as you can see, she is in capable hands' he smirked.

'Are you alright Gwen?' Merlin asked nervously.

'I'm okay thanks' she smiled weakly.

'So I see you managed to call for help' Arthur said coldly, looking anywhere but at Gwen.

'No' she replied swiftly, 'Lancelot just showed up, he was out with friends and was driving home when he saw me'

'A lucky coincidence?' Arthur sneered.

'Yes' Gwen snapped back.

'I understand why _you_ are here Merlin, what I don't understand is how _you _Arthur feel that Gwen's being is any of your concern? You are over, she doesn't want you so why did you come here Arthur?' Lancelot

spat.

Gwen rounded on him, opening her mouth furiously.

'I only came because Morgana begged me' Arthur said before Gwen could speak.

She looked as if he had slapped her.

Hurt welled in her eyes and he immediately wished he could claw back the words he had just uttered.

'I should be going' Gwen said dazedly.

'I'll give you a lift' Lancelot said quickly.

'No' she said sharply.

'Or I could-' Arthur began.

'No' she snapped.

'I'll walk you back' Merlin offered, 'and I'll stay with you tonight if you want?'

'No thanks Merlin, I need some time to myself, it's only round the corner anyway. Besides I have calls to make, to the banks, to Morgana, to tell her I am safe and well.'

'Don't worry, I'll do that' Arthur said.

'I would not want to inconvenience you anymore than I already have done' she shot at him spitefully before she could stop herself.

'Give me a call when you get back, just to let me know you're safe, alright?' Merlin said, his brow furrowed with concern.

'Sure' she smiled faintly.

'I'll see you tomorrow?'

'Of course' she said, turning her back on the three men.

Once Gwen had disappeared around the corner Merlin rounded on the other two.

'You guys are total tossers' he pronounced vehemently, 'she doesn't deserve this. She got mugged tonight and your primary concerns were your precious egos. As far as I'm concerned, neither of you are

worthy of her'

'I'm sorry' Arthur said, his eyes dark.

'I know' he sighed.

'Do you want a lift home?'

'Okay' he shrugged, slipping quickly into the passenger seat.

They pulled away, leaving Lancelot looking disoriented in the bloody light cast by the Porsche's taillights.

Merlin pressed a button on the dashboard and a woman's voice filled the car.

'_Coming up now we have a nineties classic from Bryan Adams' _she said over the opening bars of the song.

'Turn it off' Arthur said sharply, his heart hammering hard against his ribs.

'I like Bryan Adams' Merlin sulked, covering the button to stop Arthur changing the radio station himself.

'_Look into my eyes - you will see'_

'Turn it off!'

'_What you mean to me'_

'What the hell is wrong with you?'

'_Search your heart - search your soul'_

Arthur shot him a look then which caught him totally off guard. His bright blue eyes were swimming with pain, anger, regret and other emotions he could not indentify.

'_And when you find me there you'll search no more'_

'Okay, I'll change it.'

_Author's note: hope you enjoyed, sorry for the insanely long chapter :p, I couldn't help it. This chapter was inspired by a request from the lovely AngelGirl1992, who wanted a bit of ep 4ness, hope this didn't disappoint xx_


	5. Chapter 5

He lay in bed staring at the ceiling, searching desperately for a crack, for a darker patch, a bit of flaking plaster, some imperfection with which he could occupy himself. However he could find nothing, a seamless

sea of unblemished white. Nothing which could stop him reliving the events of the night. He tried thinking about other things, anything and everything, but somehow it always brought him back to Guinevere.

And every time he thought of her he saw her face. And it tormented him. He had hurt her. He had lied to protect his precious pride and he had hurt her.

He turned over. The clock glowed four-thirty. He groaned. He reached for his mobile for the hundredth time that night, he looked at it, turning it over in his hands, but just as he had done on every other

occasion, he replaced it on the nightstand without even unlocking it. He wanted to call her, to apologise, but he couldn't. Not in the middle of the night. Not over the phone. And because, yet again, his pride

was in danger.

It had after all been the first time they had come face to face since their disastrous first date and their subsequent break up. He had expected her to avoid his eye, to look at least a little guilty. He had not

been prepared for her to seek his gaze and to meet it squarely; he had not anticipated her challenging him as she had. Somehow something did not add up.

He spent the next two hours turning this thought over and over in his mind without coming to a satisfactory conclusion. It was at this point that he gave up all hope of sleep and rolled out of bed.

* * *

Merlin arrived at half eight, having left his rugby kit behind the previous night, though he was still rather hoping he wouldn't need it.

'Morn-' began Merlin as Arthur opened the apartment door, 'shit you look dreadful'

'Thanks Merlin' Arthur said running a tired hand through his hair, 'I didn't sleep well last night'

'I figured' Merlin said slipping past Arthur and into the apartment.

'I just kept thinking about what I said'

'Well you were a massive knob' Merlin replied over his shoulder as he grabbed his bag from the spare room.

'True' Arthur said distractedly, 'I guess I was still mad at her'

'For what?' Merlin said, shutting the spare room door, 'what did she do?'

'She broke up with me and she did it really badly' he said to the white door.

'Badly?' came Merlin's muffled voice.

'Yeah I'm pretty sure that it ranks in the top ten ways not to break up with someone'

'How did she do it?'

'You should know considering she broke up with me via you'

'What?' Merlin exclaimed throwing open the door, pulling his rugby shirt over his head as he did so.

'When you returned my boxers for her' Arthur said slowly and deliberately.

'But you had already told me you guys had broken up'

'No, I told you we had a fight, that-' Arthur broke off suddenly as he saw a look of comprehension flicker onto Merlin's face only to be chased off a second later by sheer panic.

Before he had time to think Merlin found himself pinned up again the orchid white wall, Arthur's hand tight and constricting around his throat.

'_Aur-der_' he choked.

'We had a fight,' Arthur breathed through his teeth, 'I _never_ said we broke up'

'I assumed' Merlin said breathlessly as Arthur loosened his grip fractionally.

'When I asked you to return Gwen's bag we hadn't broken up, so tell me _Merlin' _he hissed, his face only centimetres from his petrified friend's, 'what did you to say to her?'

'Arthur I'm sorry' Merlin said with the eyes of a rabbit caught in the headlights.

'So she thought I ended it?' Arthur said a phantom half-smile crossing his features.

'I guess' Merlin said, now even more nervous if that were possible.

'And so this is all _your_ fault?'

'I guess'

Arthur let go of his throat, an insanely wide smile on his face.

'Are you okay?' Merlin asked apprehensively, massaging his neck.

'I'm brilliant' he beamed, then catching Merlin's eye added with a serious expression, 'don't worry I'm still bloody furious with you,' then his smile broke through his scowl, 'but Gwen and I wouldn't have broken

up if it hadn't been for you, hell, technically I don't think we actually broke up at all. Don't you see Merlin? There's a chance I can fix this'

Merlin grinned at Arthur's palpable excitement.

'I'll see you later' Arthur said cuffing his friend around the head and crossing to the door.

'Where are you going? You're not even changed yet'

'To talk to Gwen of course, I'll just skip rugby'

'But she's going to be at the rugby, that's the only reason we are playing, I had to get you and Gwen within a one hundred metre radius of each other.'

'That was actually a reasonably good plan' Arthur grinned, 'how the devil did _you_ come up with it?' Arthur said disappearing into his bedroom to change.

Arthur opened the door a few minutes later, 'tell me honestly, do I look as ridiculous as I feel'

'Well the shirt is a little tight' Merlin said, biting back a smile.

'I haven't worn it since Sixth Form' Arthur said defensively, pulling at his too small white rugby shirt, 'and I was tiny back then'

Merlin nodded a slight smirk on his face.

'Shut up' Arthur said aiming a rugby boot at his friend's head. Which Merlin ducked.

'I didn't say anything' Merlin grinned, straightening up, 'if it helps, I don't think Gwen would have a problem with your shirt' he said with a wink.

'I'll wear the shirt' Arthur smiled sheepishly, a faint flush darkening his cheeks as he pulled a pair of trackies and a jacket over his rugby kit.

* * *

The park was only a short walk from Arthur's apartment and consequently they were among the first to arrive. Arthur looked around the pitch, searching for a pair of warm brown eyes, 'it's okay mate' Merlin

said clapping a hand on his shoulder, 'she will be here, we've got plenty of time yet.'

'Oh hey Uncle Gaius!' Merlin shouted spotting his aged uncle over on the sidelines.

'Hello Merlin, hello Arthur' he greeted them as they made their way over.

'What are you doing here?'

'Gwen mentioned you were playing so I thought I'd come and watch and then patch you up afterwards'

'I'm only a sub and who says I'm going to need patching up anyway?'

'Merlin when was the last time you played rugby?'

'Year nine'

'And what happened?'

'I fractured my wrist, broke three ribs and chipped a tooth' Merlin admitted grudgingly.

Arthur laughed, 'I'm really glad you're here Gaius.'

'As am I, especially now I see you are playing too. At least this way I can make sure that neither of you get into too much trouble'

'Me get into trouble?' Arthur said innocently though he wore a mischievous grin.

'Barely a fortnight went by during your childhood that I didn't see you in my surgery for one thing or another. But your father was always very protective of you, which I suppose was understandable'

'True'

'Hey guys' said Leon jogging over to them, 'sorry to bother you but we need you over here, we are going to start in about five minutes,'

'See you later Gaius'

'Good luck both of you'

'I think we are going to need it' Arthur said with a grin to cover his nerves. He had not played rugby in a long time and did not want to make a fool of himself, especially not in front of Lancelot.

'I didn't know you were playing' Merlin said grinning as he walked beside Leon.

'I'm not, I'm refereeing'

'You lucky bastard'

'Not so lucky' Leon said pulling a thick rule book out of his jacket pocket, 'I have been cramming since Thursday and I still know nothing about rugby.'

'Okay, not so lucky' grinned Merlin.

'Alex, grab a red bib' Lancelot shouted from the middle of the crowd of men in the centre of the pitch, 'Thomas, no bib' he said looking down at his clipboard.

'Jonah, red' then turning to see Arthur and Merlin approaching, 'Arthur, no bib, same for you Merlin'

This announcement caused quite a stir as many of the players had been clearly unaware that their new CEO would be playing alongside them.

'Are you sure about this sir?' one of the older men said.

'Yes' he smiled 'and for today it's Arthur'

'Yes s-' he began, before amending, '-Arthur'

Merlin stood on the side lines with Gaius as Leon tossed the coin. Lancelot's team won the toss and the game began.

* * *

Ten minutes later Gwen and Morgana arrived. By which time the Reds were up by a try and a conversion and Arthur was covered in mud and aching all over, a state induced by several tough tackles. However

all this was forgotten when he saw her make her way over to Merlin and Gaius and as a result he very nearly tripped over a member of his own team.

Gaius watched the blonde young man running down the flank, his eyes not on the ball but on the young woman who walked arm in arm with his sister. _Well, _Gaius thought, holding back a smile, _this was a _

_strange turn of events. _The old doctor then turned his eyes to Gwen. She was chatting animatedly with Morgana, her gaze firmly rooted on her friend though the pink in her cheeks told him that she was acutely

aware of Arthur watching her. _Love could certainly be found in the most unlikely of places._ He thought looking between them.

It was not only Gaius who observed the two of them. Lancelot did not much like the look in Arthur's eyes as he looked at Gwen. There was a new hope alight in those bright blue eyes and Lancelot did not like

it one bit. And the blush which burnt in her cheeks; that, he liked even less.

The referee was also having trouble keeping his eyes on the game, his gaze constantly flickering towards Morgana who was wearing a sweet half smile. Gwen looked between them, her interest caught.

* * *

It was three minutes before half time when Arthur saw his chance. He was running down the flank, following the scrum-half who was rapidly being chased down by a member of the opposing team. The

scrum-half passed the ball to Arthur and he made a break for it. However he soon found several opponents on his tail, though this did leave one of the centres free. He threw the ball back to the centre. He

watched as the centre sprinted towards the try line. It was then that Arthur was thrown to the muddy ground by a forceful blow to shoulder and neck. His head hit the ground hard with a sickening smack. He

opened his eyes and for a moment all he could see was dark grey sky, then it was blotted out by a pair of beautiful brown eyes. He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth in spite of the fact that his brain

was throbbing as if it had been beaten with a baseball bat.

'Are you okay?' she said panting slightly, squeezing his hand with a tenderness which caused his heart to flutter.

'I'm okay' he mumbled as darkness ate away at the corners of his vision.

She removed her hand from his, a movement which caused him a strange sense of loss. She raised her hand in front of his eyes, 'how many fingers?'

He struggled to force his eyes into focus without much success, 'four?'

'Gaius, I think he's got a mild concussion'

_So not four then._

'How is he?' said Lancelot's voice somewhere outside his field of sight.

Gwen left his side then, straightening up from her kneeling position in the dirt.

She turned to face Lancelot, fury in its rawest form set in her every feature, 'he will be fine' she breathed, 'though no thanks to you. What the hell were you playing at?' she shouted as Gaius bent to examine

Arthur.

'I didn't mean to-'

She let out a harsh laugh, 'it was a high tackle and he didn't even have the bloody ball'

'Gwen I would appreciate it if you left the pitch' Leon said tentatively.

'So are you going to award a penalty, or sin bin this twat?' she said turning on the amateur referee and pointing fiercely at Lancelot.

'I didn't actually see the alleged foul, so I can't give them a penalty or sin bin him'

'I'm pretty sure you could have seen that foul from the international space station'

'It's convention in rugby that people don't argue with the ref'

'It's also convention for the referee to actually have his eyes on the game rather than spending the entire time gawping at one of the spectators' Gwen spat back before she could stop herself.

She saw Leon pale visibly and instantly regretted her harsh words.

'I'm sorry' she said gently.

'It's 'kay' Leon replied with a smile, 'you care about him, I understand'

'He's the boss, course I care about him, Uther would kick our butts if he was seriously injured' she said quickly.

'Right' Leon said sceptically.

'Right' she said forcefully, meeting his gaze squarely.

Leon looked down at his watch, 'I'll just call half time now,' he blew his whistle.

'Go and talk to her' Gwen said nodding in Morgana's direction as they strolled off the pitch.

'What?' he said blushing furiously, 'I don't know what you're talking about'

'Okay, so I guess it isn't of any interest to you that I'm supposed to be going to see that new movie, you know, the one with Matt Damon, with Morgana after the game, but I'm not sure that I'm going to be

feeling up to it. But we bought the tickets and everything already'

'Um okay' Leon said slowly.

'I don't want Morgana going by herself, and she really wanted to see the movie. You wouldn't happen to know anyone who might happen to be interested in taking my place would you?' she said with raised

eyebrows.

'I guess I could go and talk to her' he said grudgingly, 'and I might take you up on your offer if it goes alright and she doesn't mind'

'You will be fine' she smiled, 'now go on' she said pushing him in the small of the back.

'Okay, but you go and check on Arthur, I know you want to, you've been glancing over at him every few seconds'

_Am I really that transparent?_ she wondered with a sad smile as Leon left her and she turned to watch as Merlin put an arm around Arthur and supported him off the pitch, walking him over to a bench.

* * *

Gaius handed Arthur an ice pack and bent down to shine his torch into his patient's eyes.

'You'll be fine' Gaius said straightening up as he noticed Gwen approaching.

'Merlin I think we need go and check on Thomas, he looks a little worse for wear.'

'You don't need me'

'I think your presence would prove highly beneficial' he replied, inclining his head significantly in Gwen's direction.

'Oh right' Merlin said quickly, 'yeah, course I'll help.'

Gaius gave Gwen a paternal smile as he passed her while Merlin settled for the rather less subtle thumbs up and goofy grin combo.

Her forehead creased with confusion briefly, but she pushed it to one side.

'How are you doing?' she said taking a seat beside him.

'I'm fine' he smiled gently, adjusting the ice pack on the back of his head, 'a little sore, but I'll live, I'm no pansy after all' he said with a grin.

'You know I was just joking about footballers being pansies' she said seriously, her eyes finding his.

He swallowed dryly and tried to quieten the buzzing in his head.

'Guinevere there is something I have to tell you'

'You don't have to tell me anything Arthur' she said gently, resisting the impulse to take his hand in hers, 'anything you have to say can wait until you're feeling better'

'I feel fine' he said a little frustrated, 'and I don't want to wait'

She gulped, 'okay, then tell me' she said trying to brace herself for the worst, though she was not entirely sure what that was. It was probably a girl. _Yes _she thought, _he's moved on already and was just telling _

_her to be a gentleman. _That bugged her even more, that he was doing the right thing, it meant she couldn't really hate him for it. He was trying to prepare her before she saw it in the papers. _God, she really _

_hated that._

'I'm sorry' he said simply.

'What for?' she asked with mounting trepidation.

'For last night, for what I said, I didn't mean it' he said, catching her totally off guard.

'I know' she smiled weakly.

'You know?'

'I know you Arthur'

'And?'

'And you are a terrible liar' she grinned.

'I'm sorry for what I said and did last Friday night too, I shouldn't have freak out so much about the photographers and I should have explained why I did'

'You did'

'Not properly' he said, 'when I said I didn't want my Dad finding out, I only meant for the time being. I didn't see the point of telling him until he got home because he'd only get mad about it. I wanted him to

meet you first, because I reckon he might actually have liked you, _then_ I would have told him about us. He wouldn't have liked the idea of us dating purely because your dad doesn't own a gold mine in Brazil

and your not some D-list celebrity. So he would have come home with all this preconceptions about you because of what he read in the papers. I wanted to introduce you guys on my terms, so that there

would be a better chance of him accepting you as a part of my life'

'That's understandable I guess' she said, a little bemused.

'And there is something else I must tell you'

'Okay' she said hesitantly.

'I never broke up with you'

'Are you sure you're feeling alright?' she laughed falsely because she could think of nothing else to do.

'Guinevere look at me' he said seriously and she raised her eyes from her lap to his eyes, 'you say you know when I am lying right?'

She nodded dumbly.

'I did not break up with you' he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

She stood up quickly, backing away from him, shaking her head.

'You did, you told Merlin that we were over'

'No' he said biting his lip, 'I told him we had fought and I was pretty down so he assumed-'

'So you didn't end it?'

'No, I thought you did'

'No' she said chewing her lower lip, 'so you didn't break up with me' she said slowly, 'and I didn't break up with you, so...'

'So technically we didn't break up at all, Merlin was the only one who broke up with anyone'

'I'll kill him' she murmured faintly, sitting back down beside him because her legs no longer offered adequate support.

'I nearly beat you to it' he grinned, 'when I found out this morning I nearly throttled him'

She laughed.

'So what does this mean-'

Leon's shrill whistle punctured the air.

'I've got to go' he said, getting shakily to his feet.

'Arthur you can't be serious'

'I have to'

'You have nothing to prove, least of all to me' she said, taking both his hands in hers.

'But I have everything to prove to myself' he declared with a mocking intensity, 'besides if I don't play, Merlin will have to, and I think that might give Gaius a heart attack' he grinned.

'Well good luck' she said looking at her shoes, 'I hope you thrash Lancelot'

'Me too' he said pressing a swift kiss to her cheek.

He drew away from her, his cheeks a little pink, mirroring hers. He bit the corner of his lip, inclined his head to her awkwardly and headed back towards the pitch.

* * *

Gaius watched this whole exchange with great interest. 'Perhaps it is not so strange' he said half to himself.

'What isn't?' Merlin asked, curious.

'Arthur and Gwen'

'Yeah, it seems kinda weird when you first think about it, but I dunno when you see them together, or hear one of them talking about the other, it just seems suddenly to make a whole lot more sense. They fit,

they bring out the best in each other' Merlin said seriously, before seeing Gaius' raised eyebrow and adding quickly, 'or that's at least what Morgana says.'

'Well I think Morgana is right' Gaius said, looking out onto the pitch as Arthur ran on, to rejoin his team.

* * *

'So how am I feeling Leon?' Gwen hissed as he passed her.

'You have a heavy cold, if that's okay?' he grinned.

'No problem, enjoy the movie, enjoy Matt Damon' she replied with a wink.

'Thanks Gwen'

'Hey' she said raising her hands 'don't thank me Leon, you haven't had to listen to an hour and a half of Morgana listing every one of Matt Damon's many perfections yet' she grinned.

'Well I guess that's something for me to look forward to then'

* * *

'So what were you and Leon talking about?' Morgana said sauntering over to her.

'Don't worry we weren't talking about you'

'Oh' Morgana said looking a little crestfallen.

'I was just telling him how I'm not feeling a hundred per cent, how I didn't really fancy going to the movies later and I was hoping that he might know someone who would be willing to take my place'

Morgana paled, 'and what did he say?'

'That he would love to take my ticket if you didn't mind him as company'

Morgana let out a high pitched '_squeeee'_ and threw her arms around the neck of her best friend, pressing a kiss to her forehead, 'you are officially the best wing-man, I mean wing-woman, in the history of the

world, ever' then recovering her composure said, 'though it's not like I'm all that bothered, I mean Leon's alright and everything-'

'Oh don't even try and be cool now, that squeal totally blew your cover'

'I don't know what you mean,' Morgana said trying and failing to keep the smile off of her face.

* * *

Gwen watched Arthur intently as the game began again. She noticed that he was slightly slower than before, and his balance was a little off. She didn't bother to keep track of the score though whatever it

was, Lancelot's team was winning by a mile.

His head was killing him, his legs were hurting, his back was aching and the sky was turning to an ominous black above them. It was fifteen minutes until the end of the match when the heavens opened.

Normally when it begins to rain there is a transitional period between it not raining and it chucking it down in bucket loads. There was no transitional period, there was no introductory drizzle, it was as if the

gods' great power shower had just been turned to full blast. And the players and spectators were drenched indiscriminately.

Play continued regardless, even as many of the spectators ran for cover. One of the few people to remain on the sidelines was Gwen who was staring unashamedly at Arthur as he ran down the flank. It was

several moments before he noticed and it was still longer before he realised she was not staring at his face.

It had been a long time since Arthur had last worn his rugby shirt and it's fit was not the only thing that had changed, it seemed that time had taken its toll on the fabric too. It was now made translucent by

the rain. His cheeks flushed scarlet as he looked down at the sodden white material through which every line of his torso was visible to anyone within a twenty metre radius, though fortunately for him it

seemed only Gwen had noticed. Her cheeks darkened as she felt his eyes on her and she raised her eyes to his face, even at this distance and through the rain the appreciation in her eyes was evident, a

playful smile dancing across her lips. _Well, _he thought as he managed to break away and throw himself over the try line, _it seemed every cloud had a silver lining._

* * *

The whistle blew and Lancelot swiftly kicked the ball into touch. The Reds ran towards each other to form a messy bundle in the middle of the pitch, many of the spectators making their way towards them to

congratulate them on their victory. Those without bibs were consoling their fellows or else were looking dejectedly at the ground. They were a rather pathetic sight to be seen, with their hangdog expressions,

their hair plastered to their heads, covered in mud and soaked to the skin. And it was in this state that Gwen found Arthur as she dashed over to him, splattering dirt up her jeans and all over her trainers.

'You were brilliant' she said a little breathlessly as she reached him.

'We lost' he said looking at his rugby boots, 'and we lost really badly'

'Well you looked great doing it' she said with a mischievous smile which forced him to look into her face.

'So you appreciated the shirt then?' he said with a grin as he marvelled at just how beautiful she was, even through the rain, even with her perfect curls crushed by the weight of the water and a hint of blue in

her lips caused by the cold. As she stood there looking up at him with those dark brown eyes, which he would happily lose himself in for days at a time, there could have been a thousand supermodels waiting

in line to date him and none of them would have stood a chance.

'I _really_ appreciated the shirt' she smirked.

He leant in to kiss her then, but his lips did not meet hers, they found her damp fingertips instead. He opened his eyes.

'Arthur' she breathed, her eyes searching his intently.

'Ah yes,' he said taking half a step backwards, 'you had a question'

'I'm sorry, but I need to know. Do you stand by what you said before?'

'Yes, totally'

She took a deep breath, 'then where does that leave us?'

He thought about it for a moment, 'I know where I would like it to leave us'

'Where?'

'Where we left off and we can just act like the last week never happened.'

'No'

'What?' he said, a little taken aback.

'I don't want to forget this last week. I have learnt a lot, we both have, besides' she said with a grin, 'I am not waiting _another _week, two is plenty enough for me'

'Typical Guinevere, why is your first concern always getting me into bed?'

'Actually it was second and anyway, in that shirt, can you really blame me?' she giggled, running both her hands hungrily across his wet and muddied chest.

'But still second to Darcy?'

She moved one hand to his face, thumbing away the mud on his cheeks, her eyes locked on his, 'I'd take you over Darcy any day of the week'

In that moment he forgot that they were standing on a muddy rugby pitch in the pouring rain, with about forty of their work colleagues close at hand, that they were both chilled to the core and that he had a

mild concussion. He forgot everything but that she was there with him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and drew her up to meet his lips, lifting her clean off the ground. She linked her arms tightly

around his neck and threw her whole being into the kiss, pressing her body tightly to his, just glad to be back in his arms. He spun her around and she half laughed against his mouth, unwilling to break the

kiss, determined to enjoy every second until their need for oxygen compelled them to pause for breath.

* * *

Lancelot beamed around at his teammates and looked about him at the spectators who were clapping the team on the back and congratulating them. He looked for Gwen's face amongst them, but was

disappointed. He turned to the members of other team who were offering the obligatory handshake. He noticed that one team member did not appear, the one he had been most anticipating seeing in the

wake of his defeat. He looked around over the heads of the crowd and he saw them. Even through the torrential rain he could make out their shapes beneath the goal posts, locked in a tight embrace. He felt

as if he had received a rugby ball to the stomach and yet he could not look away.

Then somebody wolf whistled, breaking the spell, and he turned to see Merlin beaming like a lunatic. Arthur and Gwen broke apart and turned red faced to the crowd.

Merlin gave his boss an enthusiastic thumbs up, to which Arthur responded by flipping off his assistant good naturedly and setting Gwen back down on the ground.

Arthur and Gwen made their way over to the group hand in hand. 'Hey guys, sorry I forgot to shake the victors' hands didn't I?' he said running his spare hand gingerly through his damp hair.

'Well done' he said to each man in turn. He reach Lancelot last, 'congratulations mate, as hard as it is for me to admit, you played really well today, two very nice tries'

'Piss off Arthur, you know full well you won the only thing of value today'

'I didn't win anything' Arthur said seriously.

'You have her'

'But it was never a competition because it was never about beating you'

'Whatever,' Lancelot muttered mutinously before pushing his way through the crowd.

There was an awkward silence.

Then one man stepped forward from the crowd, 'I take it you don't want this' he said gesturing between him and Guinevere 'becoming general knowledge just yet?'

Though the question was aimed at Arthur, he let Gwen answer it, 'correct, we'd like to keep it quiet for a little while longer, at least until Uther returns'

'Okay,' the man said turning to the rest of the group, 'you heard Gwen, so lets all keep our traps shut, all those in favour say Ay'

'Ay' chorused a large number of voices.

'All those against say Nay'

A murmured 'Nay' came from a few members of the crowd.

'The Ays have it' he announced, 'now let's all bugger off home before we catch our deaths in this pissing weather.'

At this the group quickly dispersed. This left only Gwen and Arthur, Morgana and Leon and Merlin and Gaius on the pitch.

'So you guys are back together?' Morgana said grinning.

'Yep' they replied together, 'though technically we never broke up' Arthur added.

'What?' Morgana exclaimed.

'It's a long story, I'll fill you in later otherwise you'll miss your film'

'Oh yeah' Morgana said, 'Leon what's the time?'

'Just gone half eleven'

'Then we'd better be off' she said giving him a warm smile, 'if that's okay with you?'

'See you guys Monday' Leon said giving the two other men a wave.

Merlin and Arthur watched the pair's retreating backs before rounding on Gwen.

'When did _that _happen Guinevere?'

'This morning, Morgana and I were supposed to go see a movie and I thought she might prefer someone else's company'

'But he's one of my accountants' Arthur said with a look of disgust.

'I know, but it does mean I have the afternoon free' she said with a smile.

'Arthur, you have a mild concussion I don't think it's a good idea for you to participate in any-' Gaius paused, thinking how best to phrase this '-vigorous physical activity for the next twenty four hours or so'

Gwen turned to scarlet faster than a set of traffic lights.

'Don't worry Gaius' Merlin said with an evil grin 'there won't be any of that, Arthur's decided he wants to _wait_. What a sweetie!'

Arthur lunged at Merlin, his face as red as Gwen's. 'I'm going to kill you' he snarled.

'I'm afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow, that would be classified as vigorous physical activity too' Gaius said with a grin.

'Doctor's orders' Merlin said wagging a finger, too busy smirking at Arthur to notice the hand being raised behind his head.

It fell with a satisfying _smack. _

'Ouch!'

'Nice one Guinevere' Arthur said admiringly, giving her a high five, 'good wrist motion.'

'Well I did learn from the master' she said grinning up at him.

'EEEEWWWW' Merlin squealed, quickly putting his hands over his ears, 'I so did not want to know that!'

Gaius chuckled.

'That is _not _what I meant!' a red faced Gwen struggled to shout over Merlin's chorus of _'la la las.' _

* * *

_A/N: sorry for the long chapter again, I totally didn't plan it to be this long, oh well, at least it fits into one post this time :P, hope you enjoy it, and just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been following this fic since the beginning of An Unwelcome Guest, it has meant a lot x_


	6. Chapter 6

'Aaaww, I can't believe you guys are going out Monday after work, you are _so_ keen'

'And why shouldn't you be?' Gwen asked swinging her bare legs from side to side from her perch on the kitchen counter, the phone clamped between her ear and shoulder.

'Yes, he is very sweet'

'Yes, I know he's smart'

'Yes, Morgana you've already mentioned he's too funny to be an accountant'

'And you've told me the penguin anecdote twice already'

'Yes, I know it was funny' she breathed exasperatedly.

'Yes, he is wonderful'

'And yes, I know he's really cute' then seeing Arthur's less than impressed expression amended quickly '-in a strictly friendship kind of way, not like in a hot kind of way, as far I'm concerned at least,

though I can see why some people, you know, like you, might think he's attractive, but my opinion on the matter is totally objective' she said in rush, her cheeks on fire. Arthur grinned and made his

way over to her, slipping in between her legs. He trailed one finger from her ankle to the soft skin of her inner thigh, stopping where the pair of his boxers she was wearing began. She shut her eyes

and bit her lip, only just suppressing a shudder of pleasure.

'Yes Morgana I'm still here' she said batting away Arthur hand which was now sneaking up underneath the baggy hoody she was wearing.

'Sorry Morgana, I was...um... a little distracted'

Arthur grinned wickedly as he leant in to kiss her neck, one hand working itself into her curls as a soft groan vibrated in her throat.

'Er, Gwen, my darling, are you alright?'

'Yeah, fine' she said, her voice a little higher than normal as she attempted to give Arthur a disapproving look.

'You know I like him' she assured her friend.

'You know, there is something very sexy about seeing you in my boxers and hoody' he whispered in a husky voice before sliding one hand down her leg to her knee where he proceeded to trace

concentric circles with one lazy finger while pressing kiss after kiss to her free ear before tugging teasingly at her earlobe. He felt her body become taught against his and he grinned.

'So Morgana I bet Leon's a great kisser'

Arthur pulled away with a look of disgust, stepping back from her and raising his hands in surrender.

'Oooohhh _that _good' Gwen said smirking at a rather disgruntled Arthur as he hid himself behind his copy of the Financial Times.

'What? You have to go? Are you sure you don't want to talk about Leon's kissing abilities any more?'

'You're sure?'

'What? Arthur's not here, what would make you think-' she said as the man in question looked up from his paper.

'Oh, you heard that?' she said flushing scarlet.

'I'm sorry'

'It won't happen again' she said totally mortified.

'See you Monday'

She snapped the phone shut, her cheeks still pink.

'Arthur that was so embarrassing, please don't do that again'

'What never?' he grinned over the top of the paper.

'You know what I mean. Just not when I'm on the phone to your _sister' _she said as she slid down from the counter top.

'I'm sorry, but you were on the phone for _ages_'

'And I told you that you could go do something else in the other room'

'But why would I want to go in the other room when everything I want is here?'

She arched an eyebrow and stood over him, arms crossed.

'A cup of tea and the Financial Times, what more could a man want?' he said with a wink, pulling her into his lap.

She giggled as she pressed a kiss to his lips, wrapping one arm tightly around his neck, the other making its way swiftly southwards.

'Guinevere' he gasped against her lips.

'What?' she said looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.

'You know perfectly well what' he said nodding at her hand which had remained exactly where it was.

'Oh, so you're allowed to tease me, but it doesn't work the other way around?'

'Do you have any idea how hard it is to maintain my self-control with you dressed like that?'

'You said to wear some of your clothes while mine were in the tumble drier'

'I know, but I didn't realise you would wear them so... well'

She laughed, 'but what makes you think that it is any easier for me to '_maintain my self control'_?'

'Do you still have full brain function?'

'Yes' she said a bemused expression.

'Then you have it easier than I do. It is taking all of my concentration just to string a sentence together'

'Then-why-don't-you-just-give-in?' she said, each word punctuated by a kiss to the corners of his mouth.

'Because Guin-e-vere,' he said with a grin, 'I am _trying_ to do this properly'

'Arthur this isn't the Middle Ages, people are going to chase you through the streets with pitchforks for violating my virtue' she teased, nestling her head into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms

around her.

'I've missed you' he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

She twisted her head so she could look him squarely in his brilliant blue eyes, and said seriously, pushing a stray strand of golden hair behind his ear, 'right back at you.'

Then she grinned, patted his knee and slipped off his lap, 'now what happened to kicking my butt at Scrabble?' she said grabbing him by the hand and leading him into the living room.

* * *

'Miss Leodegrance?' he called after Gwen as she and two of her colleagues made their way down the corridor.

'Mr Pendragon?' she said in surprise, turning to face him, her cheeks a little pink.

'Can I have a word?' he said inclining his head in the direction of her office.

'Of course sir'

He followed her into her office and the minute the door was shut securely behind them his lips were on hers.

'Hey' he breathed, leaning his forehead against hers.

'Hey' she smiled widely back at him.

'Now down to business'

'So you didn't just fancy popping in to see your girlfriend then?' she teased.

'It was half that, but I also needed to talk to you about some networking you did on Friday night'

'What-' she began '-oh yeah, that, shit, I totally forgot to mention it' she said biting her lip.

'I have to say I was little surprised when Matthew Stalham called me up this morning to say he wanted to invite me and the Board to a meeting to renegotiate the Co-operative deal in the light of

proposed changes to the company ethics code. Of course I asked him how he'd found out about that, given it hadn't been formalised yet and he mentioned that he'd met one of my employees, a

very charming young woman called Gwen. You wouldn't happen to know who he was referring to now would you?' he said, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

'Arthur I'm really sorry, I know I had no right to say what I did, I know I should have consulted you first, but I didn't say anything you hadn't actually told me yourself, I didn't realise he was a

member of the Board, I didn't mean to-'

She stopped talking as his mouth found hers once more.

She swallowed hard.

'Don't apologise' he said beaming down at her, 'you did brilliantly'

'Really?'

'Yes really' he grinned, 'thanks to you the company has secured a massive deal that it never could have done under my father, we can finally install a half way decent ethics code, the Board are

actually going to start to take my proposals seriously, and its all thanks to you, I can't believe you managed to swing a multi-million pound deal while poor Matt tried to chat you up'

She turned scarlet, 'so he told you about that huh?'

'Yeah, we've known each other for years and the way he described you made it kinda obvious'

'Oh' she muttered, embarrassed.

'Yep, and he also told me that you turned him down because you said you had a boyfriend'

'Those weren't my exact words' she said looking at the floor.

He reached for her chin and tilted it upwards, forcing her to meet his triumphant, 'thank you Guinevere'

'For what?'

'For not moving on even though you had ample reason and opportunity to do so'

She shrugged, 'there aren't many guys out there who would take it upon themselves jump in the shower fully clothed for me, so I figured I might as well hang onto you for the time being'

'Oh you're such a die hard romantic' he teased.

'I'd better be getting back to work' she said gesturing at the door, 'they'll be wondering where I am'

'Okay, but before I leave you to it, Matthew had requested that you be involved in the devising of the account, you interested?'

'Yes' she grinned, 'sounds great'

'And another thing, are you free Saturday?'

'You're having the business meeting this Saturday?'

'No I was actually thinking about us getting together, minus the fat old guys in suits'

'Oh okay' she said smiling, 'Saturday morning I'm out shopping with Morgana, but I'm free the rest of the day'

'Fantastic, well can you keep the evening open?'

'Sure' she said, a half frown crossing her features, 'why? What are we doing?'

He tapped his nose secretively, 'you'll just have to wait and see'

'Can't you just tell me?'

'No'

'Why?'

'It's a surprise'

'But can't you just give me a clue?'

'No'

'Why can't-'

Then his mouth was against hers, the force of it backing her up against the office wall. She knotted both hands into his hair as she found her body flush against his. His arms wrapped themselves

around her waist, drawing her even closer to him, if that were possible. And then she was pulling away, her breathing a little laboured against his cheek 'I really ought to be going.'

* * *

She picked up the package on her desk and a card fluttered to the floor. She picked it up and turned it over.

**Gwen,**

**Hope you are still up for tomorrow, if you are, you will need to wear baggy trousers, comfortable shoes and what is in this package. Can you try and make it over to mine for around five? Have a nice **

**time shopping with Morgana and looking forward to seeing you soon,**

**Arthur xxx**

She turned quickly to the brown parcel before her which was wrapped rather haphazardly. She tore it open, anticipation and confusion building. The anticipation was dispelled but the confusion only

increased as she surveyed the flannel shirt. _What the hell was he thinking? What was he planning? Was_ _he aware that lumberjack conventions were not really her scene?_

She pulled out her phone.

Create message.

**I am still up 4 tomorrow, though am majorly confused. A flannel shirt?!?!? Is your self control really that bad that you have to stipulate what clothes I wear so I don't dress 2 provocatively? **

**:P I will be there at 5, flannel shirt and all. Looking forward to seeing you 2 xxx **

Send.

A few minutes later her phone buzzed against the desk.

**Yes a flannel shirt! Oh I hadn't thought of that, but honestly I don't think any amount of baggy clothing could reduce your sex appeal, though it's always worth a try I guess :D. I will be **

**counting down the seconds til I see you again :P xxx**

Compose reply.

***hurls* you are 2 gross for words Arthur Pendragon ;P xxx**

_What on Earth was he planning?_

* * *

_A/N: Just wanted to say thank you so much to my lovely reviewers, you have been very good to me and always make me smile. This chapter is a little shorter than the others have been, so sorry for that, I was getting to that point where I felt I needed to post something and if I had merged this chapter and the next as I had been planning on doing i would have had to make it a 2 parter over on lj, which I had to do for chapter 4 and did not like it. However this does mean that you should be getting chapter 7 reasonably quickly, though I have been having internet issues, so no guarentees. Hope you enjoy x_


	7. Chapter 7

She pulled the flannel shirt out of her bag and threw it on over her t-shirt coming almost to the knees of her rather tired baggy jeans.

She knocked on his door, still as bemused as ever. The door swung open violently and Arthur's beaming face replaced it. Her jaw

dropped.

Her gaze swept upwards. He was dressed in chunky Nike trainers, kaki cargo pants, a nirvana t-shirt, a flannel shirt similar to the one

she was wearing, and baseball cap sat backwards atop his blonde hair.

'What the hell-' she began, but before she could finish her exclamation he had stepped back from the doorway to reveal the living room.

The once bare white walls were plastered with posters, ones of N-Sync, S-Club 7 and Take That in their earlier years, while newspaper

clippings featuring events such as the Lewinsky Scandal, the End of Apartheid and the collapse of the Soviet Union acted as filler

between the posters.

On the coffee table sat a bottle of Orangina, a bowl of candy necklaces, push pops, microwavable smores, pop tarts, cheetos and many

other revolting foodstuffs Gwen could not identify, so that barely a square inch of the table could be seen.

She turned to him dumbly.

'Its nineties night' he said gesturing vaguely around the room, her silence making him feel rather nervous.

'This is amazing Arthur' she said, her throat a little dry.

'You like it?'

She nodded silently.

'Well I have a selection of classic nineties films for you to choose from, if you want to watch a film that is. But if you don't that's cool, I

have other stuff we can do instead'

'A film sounds great'

'Wicked' he said pulling a cardboard out from underneath the coffee table.

'They're all VHS?' she said cocking her head to one side.

'It has to be authentic' he said looking up from the box a wonky grin on his face, 'I found them in the loft at Dad's place. Now what to

do you fancy watching, I think I have pretty much every Disney movie in here, as well as Forrest Gump, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, l

oads of stuff'

She crouched down beside him, 'don't you have something you want to watch?'

'It's your choice Guinevere'

'Fine, but you have to tell me if you hate the one I pick'

'Scout's honour' he said making the salute.

Her eyes scanned the box before fixing on one.

She extricated it from its fellows.

'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' he said with a grin, 'good choice'

'I know it's a crappy movie, but I haven't seen it in forever and it's just superbly bad and-'

'Alan Rickman' they said in unison.

'Best death scene in history- ever' Arthur laughed, 'alright soundtrack too'

'So?'

'So what?'

'So you want to watch it?'

'Definitely' then suddenly serious, 'but I can talk through it right?'

'With a film like this' she said waving the VHS box 'it would be a crime not to'

'Brilliant' he beamed, taking it from her and placing it in the machine, before jumping onto the sofa beside Gwen, remote control in hand.

'Thanks for all this' she said as he settled himself next to her.

'It's no big deal' he replied, his eyes on the screen as he fast forwarded the adverts.

'It is a very big deal' she said touching his chin to force him to look at her, 'thank you' she breathed, pressing her lips to his, and

pushing off his baseball hat so that she could run her hands through his hair freely, gently steering him towards her and deeper into

the kiss.

She pulled away, a half smile on her lips which grew to a fuller one as she surveyed his expression.

It was one of total awe.

He couldn't believe how easily she could turn his stomach inside out, how, with such little effort she could have his heart hammering as

if he'd just run a marathon, how she could make his legs feel like jelly and render him speechless without a word.

'Er Arthur' she said, interrupting his only half coherent train of thought, 'you can stop fast forwarding now' she grinned.

'Oh' he murmured blankly, though it took several more seconds for her words to register, 'oh right, yeah' he said turning back to the

screen and hitting the play button.

She pulled a cushion onto her lap and she cocked her head with an enquiring expression.

'You sure?'

'I'll be fine, I'm sure you've got to be pretty shattered after doing all this' she said looking around the room once again.

'It was no problem' he said as he lay back against her, head on the cushion in her lap, his legs stretch to their full extent along the

length of the sofa.

'Great view from here' he said looking directly upwards with a crooked smile.

'Watch the movie Arthur' she said as a faint blush crept into her cheeks and a half smile danced across her lips, though her eyes r

emained determinedly fixed on the screen.

She began to run her fingers absentmindedly through his hair. Her touch set his body humming and made it rather difficult to focus on

the television screen. He also could not stop his eyes flicking to her face every minute or so. _What had he done to deserve her? What good _

_could he possibly have done to warrant this? _He pondered these questions and others but only half cared about the answers, all he cared

in that moment was being there with her.

'Are you alright?' Gwen asked after a while, stroking his forehead, a look of concern crossing her face.

'Just thinking' he mumbled.

'About?'

'Us'

'Sounds serious'

'Not really, I was just thinking about how if Merlin hadn't emotionally blackmailed you into letting me stay with you, none of this would

have happened. About the fact that I met you so many times and I was too much of a prat to noticeyou. About the fact I might _never_

have noticed you and you might never have given me a chance. It scares me how easily we could have missed each other' he said

glumly.

'Well thank God for Merlin then' she said brightly.

'Yeah, though I hate admitting that he ever does anything right, it inflates his already over-large ego'

'I'll remember never to compliment you again then' she teased.

'I do not have an over-large ego' he protested.

'Arthur, there are some days when you think you're something really special'

'Okay _that's_ just honesty' he said grinning up at her.

'Oh my God, how stupid do they think their viewers are that they feel the need to label Nottingham Castle?' Arthur exclaimed.

'Kevin Costner is soooo overdramatic and is he _trying_ to do an English accent?'

'I'm not actually sure' she replied.

'Oww sexual tension between Marian and Robin, I mean why wouldn't you slap her arse as you steal her horse? ' he said rolling his

eyes.

'Okay, Gisbourne is a major creep'

'Christian Slater should not be allowed to sing'

'Oh yeah, like anyone would be scared of _that'_

Gwen smiled down at him as he continued his rant.

'What?' he said feeling her eyes on him.

'I was just thinking I guess I owe Merlin a thank you'

He grinned and turned once more to look at the TV screen.

'I love you' he murmured under his breath. He winced. _Oh God he hadn't actually meant to say that. It had just slipped out of his mouth. _

_Jeez what a time to get verbal diarrhoea. That had been a private thought, something for him alone to know and something he had not _

_intended on sharing with __**anyone, **__let alone Gwen. He hadn't used those three words since Sophia. And they certainly weren't the words you _

_spouted on your second official date with someone while watching a crappy nineties movie and wearing a flannel shirt. Especially when your _

_name was Arthur Pendragon. _

Gwen felt his whole body tense against her. _He couldn't have said what she thought he had just said. It was impossible. Wasn't it? He was _

_Arthur Pendragon. But then he was always surprising her. If someone had told her that a date with the new CEO would be anything like __**this**_

_she would have said they were cracked. _

He lay still, the seconds ticked by, _maybe she hadn't heard him, he had said it pretty quietly after all. Please let her not have heard it. _

Several moments passed, _maybe she had just misheard him, or just imagined it. Yeah that was probably it. God, maybe she was the one _

_who was cracked. Who the hell has hallucinations about their boyfriend telling them they love them? Geez why couldn't she think she was an _

_orange or something, if she was going nuts she didn't want it to be a half-arsed attempt. _

Neither decided to risk speech and so the pair of them watched the rest of the film in an awkward quiet, punctuated only by the odd

comment from one of them regarding the acting ability of one or other of the actors, the ridiculous plot and Arthur's gentle humming

along to the soundtrack.

The second the credits began to roll Arthur leapt up from the sofa 'I'll call for pizza'

Gwen looked up at him, a little startled at his sudden movement and his flushed cheeks.

'Anything you don't like on pizza?' he said his voice a little choked.

'I'm not a fan of anchovies' she offered with a shrug.

Things returned almost to normal during dinner as they devoured enormous amounts of junk food while regaling each other with stories

from their childhoods, from school, university and more recent years. Gwen finished telling Arthur about the night out during which a

drunken Merlin had jumped into the water fountain in their local park, fully clothed, because 'he wanted to be the Little Mermaid.'

Arthur chuckled, 'and how does he compare?'

'Sorry?'

'Can Merlin pull off the wet hero look as well as I can?'

She grinned, caressing his torso through his t-shirt, 'let's just say I didn't sleep with Merlin after that'

He choked on his mouthful of Orangina, 'God, I should hope not' he managed to splutter.

Then he spotted the time.

'We'd better go' he said, making a mental note of several of the 'drunk Merlin' tales to use as ammo at some future point.

'Go where?' Gwen replied bemused.

'It's a surprise' he grinned at her with that boyish smile which made her stomach turn over. He pulled her up off the floor by the hand

and stuck his baseball cap back on his head.

* * *

They took the tube and got off after only three stops and a number of critical looks in the direction of Arthur's baseball cap. They

emerged onto the main street and headed left. They walked down a series of little residential roads before they met the high street.

They walked hand in hand, for several minutes before Arthur stopped abruptly.

Together they looked up at the building in front of them, the exterior of which was emblazoned with the words 'Club Funk,' it was only

then that Gwen noticed the sign hanging by the door which proudly proclaimed that it was '90s night.'

She squeezed the hand holding hers.

'This is amazing Arthur'

'Really? It looks pretty shabby to me'

'I don't mean the club, I mean this whole night'

He shrugged, 'I dunno, I just felt like doing something that was a bit more _us_, I mean when I looked back on our first date, amongst all

my other regrets about that night was the fact that it was kinda generic, I could have taken anyone to that restaurant. This,' he said,

gesturing at the sign with their interlocked hands, 'I could never do with anyone else.'

* * *

'I'll have another Backstreet Boy cocktail please' Gwen shouted breathlessly over the chorus of '5-6-7-8'

'Right you are love' the barman shouted back.

'That'll be two-eighty,' he said as he handed her the drink.

'I'll get that for you' a small young man with sharp eyes and limp hair said offering the barman a crisp ten pound note.

'No thanks' Gwen said, 'it's very kind of you but-'

'No buts' the man said with a slimy smile.

'Look I'm sorry, but I would really rather pay for it' she said holding out the money to the barman.

'I insist' he said putting his hand over her outstretched one.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you?' A voice said behind her.

She turned to find Arthur standing beside her, arms folded, gaze stony.

'Ah and you must be the boyfriend' the small man said, dropping Gwen's hand instantly.

'Bingo' Arthur said with a sinister smile.

'Thanks' Gwen said, paying the barman, her cheeks a little pink.

They slipped back through the crowd and over to a table.

'Geez I never knew having an attractive girlfriend would be so stressful' he said as he took a seat.

She laughed as she took a sip of her cocktail, 'you think that is bad, imagine being in my shoes?'

'What?' he said with a confused smile.

'I have to deal with loads of girls cracking onto you'

'When?' he exclaimed.

'Er like today, even with that ridiculous hat on women are all over you. There was that woman who asked you for directions and you

told her you didn't know and referred her to me, I told her where to go and she spent the whole time trying to catch your eye. She

ended up walking in totally the wrong direction to the way I told her because she hadn't listened to a word I had been saying'

'I did think that was weird'

'And there was that woman on the train who offered you her paper-'

'She was being polite'

'-and then spent the next two minutes telling you how stunning your eyes are'

'Okay, but she was a little bit odd'

'But she was totally flirting' she said finishing her drink.

'Jealous?'

'Nope, because I have you and your stunning eyes' she grinned, 'oohhh good song' she said grabbing him by the hand and leading him

back to the dance floor.

* * *

'Okay I'm taking requests for the next hour' stated the DJ at half eleven.

'I'll pop up and request 'Bring it all back' by S Club 7' Gwen said grinning, 'do you remember us dancing to that?'

'I do' he beamed back before she disappeared into the crowd.

Arthur and Gwen had just completed a near perfect Macarena when Arthur announced he needed to take a trip to 'the little boys' room.'

'See you in a minute' Gwen said moving to join a group of people the pair of them had got chatting to earlier.

The DJ's voice filled the room once more; 'now here are some songs for all those lovebirds out there'- an announcement which

prompted a swift migration off the dance floor. Gwen was moving with the rest of the group towards the bar when a pair of strong

hands found her waist. She looked up into a pair of piercing blue eyes, 'where do you think you are going?' he said with a boyish grin.

He took her hand in his and led her back on to the dance floor.

'Hang on' she said as he pulled her into his arms, 'isn't this 'Everything I do' by Bryan Adams'

'Yes' he said looking down at her, a smile tugging at his lips.

'You didn't request it did you?' she said cocking an eyebrow, a wide grin on her face.

'I may have done'

'Oh really?'

'Well you see Guinevere I had heard that a lot of couples have 'a song', and I was thinking, if you have no objections, this could be

ours. I mean it's a ridiculously cheesy nineties song, from a ridiculously cheesy nineties movie, it's just so us' he beamed, 'besides…'

'Besides what?'

'I know this is going to sound corny but it was when I was dancing with you to this song that I really realised how much trouble I was

in. I mean I'd had my suspicions before that, but it was then that it hit me that I didn't want you to be just a passing phase and that I

wanted you around, whether that was as a friend or something...more'

'I have no objections to this song' she said leaning her head against his chest, 'you know, I _really _like this song' she smiled, as he

wrapped his arms more tightly around her waist.

* * *

'Tell me, any plans for the future?' he asked as they walked hand in hand back down the street.

'I'm going to France with Merlin in the summer'

'That's not what I meant'

'Oh, okay' she said, a slight frown creasing her forehead, 'well I've applied for a management programme at work and will be starting

that soon, and I'd like to apply for a promotion if it came up. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge' she said with a mischievous smile.

He laughed.

'What? Dating the boss _has_ to have some benefits'

'I could get you a lifetime's supply of paperclips' he said with a grin, 'but that promotion you'll have to get on your own'

'What no leg up for getting your leg over?' she said with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her lips.

'Guinevere Leodegrance, it was once,' he said with mock condescension, 'and you were good, but not _that _good'

She laughed and nudged him playfully in the ribs, 'so what about you?'

'I want to go travelling'

'But you're a Pendragon, surely you've already been everywhere'

'I don't think staying in five star hotels for a night and spending the entire time copped up in a Board room with a bunch of stuffy guys

in suits really counts as seeing the world'

'I guess not' she grinned, 'so where will you go?'

'I'd like to go backpacking in Asia somewhere'

'I'd love to do that' Gwen said without thinking, 'not with you, I just meant I would like to travel too, and it sounded cool, for you that is,

not me, not us. Though that's not to say I wouldn't want to-'

His lips silenced her.

He pulled away too quickly for her liking, 'I know what you meant.'

'So what else are you planning on doing Gwen?'

'Well I saving up to buy my own place, it'll just end up being some dingy little flat somewhere but it'll be mine, and it's a start'

'What about the less immediate future, where do you see yourself in five or ten years time?'

'Arthur have you been spending too much time with the careers counsellor?'

'No' he laughed, 'I'm just interested'

'I guess I'd want to be married and settled and stuff' she mumbled.

'You ever been close?'

'To what?'

'Getting married, was there anyone who you thought could have been the One'

'We don't need to talk about this' she said as they made their way down the escalator.

'What aren't you telling me?' he said, cocking his head to one side.

'You don't want to know'

His face paled under the artificial lighting.

'Lancelot?' he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

'Look Arthur, he didn't actually mean it'

'What?' he exclaimed, 'he proposed? He _actually_ proposed?'

'Yes but-'

'Jesus' he breathed running his hands through his hair.

'He didn't mean it Arthur, it was just before he was due to leave for Hong Kong, it was his last ditch attempt to get me to go with him'

'Tosser'

'That's what I thought' she laughed, albeit a little nervously, 'he wanted to drop everything and start my life from scratch'

'But he couldn't seriously think that an engagement ring would change that'

She shrugged, 'maybe he just didn't know me that well, besides I'm not sure he believed I would say yes, he hadn't actually bought a

ring'

'So an unprepared tosser then?' he grinned, 'though I guess I understand'

'What?' she said taken aback, 'you are sympathising with Lancelot? _Lancelot?_'

'He was desperately trying to hold on to you, I can't blame him for that. Though he shouldn't have been dumb enough to think about

leaving in the first place' he said as they clambered onto the tube.

'So do you want to get married?' Gwen asked.

'Yeah if I met the right person I'd definitely want to get married, have kids, all that'

'So kids are a deal breaker?'

'Yeah I think they would be' he said suddenly serious, 'you don't want kids?'

'What?' she said, lifting one eyebrow in confusion, 'when did I say that?'

'You asked-'

'Yeah, because I was interested to know the answer. But no, I want to have kids'

'Oh right' he said as a strange wave of relief which should not have been there washed over him.

'How many?'

'Two or four'

'Two or four? Not three?' he laughed.

'I don't like the number three, and I dunno, I'd just feel like one of them would always be left out'

'Okay'

'What about you?'

'I'd like a big family I guess, it's probably because it was just me and my Dad for so long before Morgana came to live with us, and he

was always at work, it would have been nice to have some siblings around.'

'So you want a football team?'

'No, just a few, but not just one'

'Yeah, I didn't much like being an only child either, though then the boys came along' she grinned, 'and I was never bored again'

* * *

Then Arthur's stop came up.

'Night' she said as he got to his feet.

'Like hell I'm letting you go home alone, I'll drive you back, besides, you left your bag at mine'

'Bossy' she said linking arms with him, 'I like it' she winked.

* * *

'I've got my bag' she said picking it up off the floor behind the door.

'Or you could stay?' he said with a shrug, then added, 'though only if-'

'I _know_ the rules Arthur' she said, half exasperatedly, 'I know it hasn't been a month yet'

'Okay then' he said, visibly relaxing, 'so do you want to stay?'

'That would be good, though I haven't got any stuff with me'

'Well I have a spare toothbrush' then realising what he had said, 'okay that wasn't supposed to come out as gross as it sounded, I was

supposed to say I've got a fresh toothbrush you can have, no one else has used it or anything, it is totally-'

Employing the same tactic he had used on her early, Gwen swiftly shut him up.

'I know what you meant' she said with a grin.

'And you can borrow my hoody and boxers again if you want, you know, to wear as pyjamas'

'That would be great' she said, following him into the bedroom. He pulled open the top left hand drawer of his dressing cabinet and

extracted the only two items from it and handing them to her.

'These are the exact same pair of boxers and the exact same hoody I wore before'

'Don't worry, I washed them' he said brightly.

'That's not what I meant' she smiled, 'you kept them together in the same drawer, with no other stuff?'

'Yeah' he said a little hesitantly, 'well I figured if you had another clothing crisis you might need them'

'So you kept them in the drawer for me?'

'Yes?'

'It's a drawer for me?'

'Yes'

'Like my drawer?'

'Yes'

'You've given me a drawer?' she said, her tone totally deadpan.

'Oh shit, was I not supposed to do that? I'm so sorry, you know I don't get all this relationship stuff'

Her lips found his once more, as she pulled him tightly against her, wrapping her arms fast around his neck. Every centimetre that could

be in contact was. He could have sworn he could feel her heart racing hard against his as she kissed him more fiercely than she ever

had before. His hands quickly found her waist and he had just begun to slowly slip them upwards when she swiftly pulled away.

'Uh-uh-uh' she said wagging a finger at him, 'that's not fair, I don't think I can cope with much teasing tonight'

'Fine' he said leaning his forehead against hers, his breathing laboured and warm against her face.

'I love you too' she said.

_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. What the hell was she thinking? God, was she even thinking at all? Not possible, otherwise she would have stopped _

_herself, would have shut her big fat mouth. And of course not only had she told him she loved him but also had made sure he would know she _

_was a complete nut-job because she sounded like she was replying to something he had said. Which he may not actually have said at all. God, _

_how much did she wish the ground would just swallow her whole?_

_But hang on just one second. He was smiling. Her beautiful boyfriend was smiling at her. Maybe that's what you did to people who were losing _

_it? Didn't people say something like you're supposed to nod and smile or something? But he wasn't nodding, just smiling, in that insanely _

_perfect way of his which makes her stomach do cartwheels, not that she's ever done a cartwheel, handstands she could do, she'd always had _

_difficulty with cart- Focus Gwen. _

'So you heard me earlier huh?' he said blushing slightly, though his wide smile remained in place.

Relief flooded her. _She was not insane._

'Yeah' she grinned, her cheeks a little pink too.

'Sorry about that, it was totally not the right time or place or anything, I wanted to do it properly'

'You know what' she said knotting her arms around his neck once more, 'I don't really care about the proper way of doing things

Pendragon, I like doing things our way'

'Really?'

'It keeps life interesting' she grinned as she sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled off her trainers and socks.

'But it freaked you out didn't it?' he said sitting down beside her.

'A bit' she said honestly, 'but only because it made me think about my feelings and they scare me shitless'

'Why?'

She folded up the flannel shirt and placed it in her lap, carefully smoothing out the creases, choosing her words very carefully, 'because

I don't normally fall for people this hard' she took a deep, steadying breath, 'I'm normally a head over heart kinda gal' she faked a

smile, 'and now...'

'Well if it's any consolation, I'm falling right here with you' he said pulling off his Nirvana t-shirt and placing his hand over hers.

She squeezed his hand and gave him a gentle smile 'I'll just go get changed'

* * *

She hopped into bed beside him, sliding close to him under the duvet, the boxers doing nothing to keep her legs and feet warm. He put

his arm around her as she laid her head on his bare chest.

'So tell me Guinevere, what's your favourite girl's name?' he said as she absentmindedly stroked his abdomen with one lazy finger.

'I like Emma'

'But that's boring'

'Growing up with a name like Guinevere means I know the godsend of a boring name, Emma is easy to spell too, you have no idea the

amount of time I spend spelling out my name over the phone'

'Well I like the name Guinevere'

'I know _you_ do'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You are the only person who uses it, to everyone else I'm just Gwen'

'Does it bother you?'

'No, it used to bug me when people used my full name, it was always teachers before they realised I like being called Gwen, or when

my parents were telling me off, or when I worked in WHsmith over the holidays and they printed my name tag with Guinevere instead

of Gwen, I was Guinevere the whole summer, it nearly drove me insane. But I dunno, it sounds different when you say it'

'Good different?'

'Very good different' she said giving him a quick kiss

'What about Ada?'

'No'

'Why not?'

'Because it is two o'clock in the morning, go to sleep'

'Night Guinevere' he said pressing a kiss to the top her head.

'Night Arthur' she said, intertwining her fingers with his, right over his thrumming heart.

* * *

_A/N: thanks for the lovely reviews, they have been very much appreciated. Sorry for the rather rabbling nature of this chapter, I wrote most of it late last night, so if it doesn't make sense- that's why. Hope you enjoy it anyhow x_


	8. Chapter 8

'_Guin-e-vere,_ why the hell are we going on a double date with my accountant and my _sister?'_

'I'm sorry, but she tricked me into agreeing, I never actually said yes, but you know what she's like'

'Yes, but I have wised up to it, as a rule of thumb always say no, it doesn't matter what it is, if it's Morgana, it always a no' he said as he paced

the length of his hotel room, his phone clamped tightly between his ear and shoulder as he tapped away on his Blackberry.

'But it's not even like she asked. There was no opportunity for me to say no. I was telling her a bit about our date-'

'Well that was your first mistake, never tell Morgana anything'

'She is one of my best friends' Gwen protested.

'I know' he groaned, 'I was just counting on having you all to myself this weekend given I won't have seen you for five days'

'You've been busy with work, I understand'

'I'll be glad when Dad's back, I had no idea being the company figurehead was so exhausting and involved travelling to the ends of the Earth'

'Arthur, Cardiff is _not _the ends of the Earth'

'But it's in Wales' he whined.

She laughed, 'I miss you too'

'Who says I miss you? I'm not your biggest fan right now, a double date with Morgana and Leon, eurgh'

'It was not my fault she was just talking about how nice it was that we had a kinda casual date and how she wanted to do something like that

with Leon but it might be a bit weird for them just to hang out, because it's not like they ever did that before they started dating. So she said it

might be less awkward if they started hanging out in a group.'

'How did you not spot the danger signs?' Arthur said with a tone of incredulity.

'Well I did, but then she started talking about shoes and you know me, I just phase out when she does that. So when she asked if we had any

specific plans for Saturday night I said no without thinking. I'm so sorry' she said absentminded smoothing the creases in her duvet as she sat

cross legged on the bed.

'Its okay' he said 'so what are we doing on the dreadful double date?'

'Games night'

'What?'

'We are hanging out at Leon's and playing Pictionary and stuff'

'But that won't work very well with just four of us'

'Well you see it won't just be the four of us' she said with some trepidation, 'Merlin's coming too'

'A date with Merlin too, _fantastic'_

'And Leon's invited one of his friends from work as well, in order to even out the numbers'

'Brilliant' Arthur said sarcastically.

'Look at least this way it will be less like a double date with your sister and her boyfriend'

'I guess' he said grudgingly.

'I'm sorry Arthur, I did try and get out of it, but she got so excited about it-'

'Then you just couldn't say no?'

'Yep'

'You are too nice for your own good; and mine'

'Sorry'

'It's alright, I'm sure it won't be _that _bad, but can you stash a bottle of Vodka in your bag just in case?'

'Of course and I will make it up to you on Monday'

'What's Monday?'

'One month'

'It's not until Thursday'

'It's definitely Monday'

'No, we officially started dating on the 18th'

'But I was going by a month being four weeks, twenty-eight days'

'Yeah but that wouldn't be our one month anniversary'

'No one celebrates a one month anniversary'

'But people do celebrate their six months anniversary and when they say six months they are not talking about twenty four weeks, they are

talking about it being six full months since you started dating'

'But these are my timings, you said when would I normally consider taking that step in a relationship, I said a month meaning four weeks'

'Fine, if you're _that _desperate' he teased.

'I am not that desperate, I'm just making a point that you shouldn't make assumptions'

'So you can wait until Thursday then?'

'Of course I _can'_

'Good, that's settled then'

'It is not settled!' she said becoming instantly riled.

He laughed, 'just a few more days, what's the problem?' he said grinning, 'and then after that I am yours on demand'

'Oh,' she said crossing her legs on the bed, 'I like the sound of that, though I'd like to get it in writing'

'Your wish is my command'

'So what time are you getting back on Saturday?'

'About lunchtime, why?'

'I was wondering if we could hang out before we head over to Leon's'

'Sounds perfect, I'm due to get into St Pancras International at-' he rifled through the papers on his desk, '-one twenty-five so should be over to

yours by half two at the absolute latest'

'Great, well I'll see you then'

'You're going already?'

'You have work to do'

'I don't' he lied.

'I heard you tapping away on your Blackberry'

'Fine I do, but I'd rather talk to you'

'I will not be responsible for the downfall of the great Pendragon Empire, I flatly refuse because I would be out of a job'

He chuckled, 'oh Guinevere you are so selfless'

'I will see you Saturday'

'Night'

'Night Arthur'

* * *

He stretched and yawned as London started to flash past the train window. He stashed away his laptop and papers in his bag having completed

far less work on the journey than he had intended to, his mind having been too preoccupied with Guinevere. He could not wait to see her. Five

days was too long.

The train pulled into the station and he threw his bag over his shoulder, lifted his suitcase down from the luggage rack and alighted from the

train, pulling on his sunglasses in the bright light of St Pancras Station. He looked up at the station clock, one thirty. It was then that the wind

was knocked out of him.

'I missed you' she whispered into his ear, her arms wrapped tight around his neck.

'I missed you too' he said as he breathed her in, a goofy smile on his face.

'I didn't miss those sunglasses though' she said letting go of him with a grin, 'you look like a total dork'

'But you love me anyway right?'

'I dunno, seeing your aviators again, I think I've changed my mind' she teased.

He pulled them off and slid them into her hair, tucking a rebellious curl behind her ear.

'Much better' she grinned.

He bent down and kissed her. His mouth was firm and yet gentle against hers as her lips yielded and he brushed the tip of his tongue against

hers, teasing her. She locked her arms around his neck once more, drawing him closer as he slid his tongue ever so gently into her mouth. He felt

her smile against his lips as he slid his hand to the nape of her neck, pulling her even nearer to him.

Someone wolf whistled.

And then she was breaking away.

Her cheeks were a little flushed as she stood there looking up at him, her chest rising and falling quickly as she tried to regain her breaths.

'Well I think that would rule out Dubai, India, Malaysia and the majority of Southern Asia for us' he said with a grin.

'I guess you'll just have to go backpacking with Merlin then, though you still might find it difficult keeping your hands to yourself, he is quite a

catch'

He laughed as she went to pick up his suitcase.

'I'll take that' he said, 'you've already got a bag' he gestured at her rucksack, 'why have you got a rucksack by the way?'

'It's our picnic' she said with a wide smile, which made his stomach swoop.

He felt a warm wonky grin creep onto his face, 'you came all this way-'

'It's only four stops on the tube'

'Well you made all this effort with the food' he said as they began to walk along the platform, he dragging his suitcase in their wake.

'Actually it is just stuff I had lying around, like leftovers from dinner with Merlin last night'

'Oh, well it was still really nice of you to come and everything' he said.

'It was only because I couldn't think of anything else to do'

'Right' he said glumly before she caught his gaze, a wicked grin on her face.

'You are really mean'

'And you are _so _gullible' she teased slipping her hand into his.

* * *

They sat down on the picnic blanket Gwen had packed and basked in the sunlight in a secluded area of Regent's Park. The sun was warm but a

breeze which still carried the last vestiges of winter with it pervaded the air. Arthur noticed her shiver as she passed him a chicken sandwich, 'that

reminds me, I have a something for you' he said quickly.

'God what did you get me if a chicken sandwich reminded you?' she said looking half amused, half concerned.

He didn't answer, instead unzipped his suitcase and pulled out a plastic from the top.

She withdrew from it a white hoody emblazoned with the Welsh dragon and the legend 'a dragon is for life, not just for Christmas'

She snorted with laughter.

'I'm sorry' he said, laughing too, 'I saw it and I couldn't help it'

'You are such a cringe Arthur' she said, still giggling as she threw her arms around his neck, 'thank you' she said pressing her lips against his.

'Though I have to know, where the hell did you get this?' she said as she pulled it over her head.

'I just spotted it at a stall in the centre of Cardiff, and it was just too tempting, besides this way you can use this one as a pyjama top rather than

my old blue one which is way too big for you'

'Oh' she said, her face falling.

'What?' he said looking very confused.

'Nothing' she mumbled, fighting the blush which was creeping into her cheeks.

'Tell me'

'I kinda liked the blue one'

'Well you can keep that too, but it's really old and you have to roll up the arms about four times.'

'I know'

'Then why do you like it?'

'I dunno' she said flushing a deep magenta and pulling nervously at her sleeves.

'Yes you do'

'It's stupid'

'As stupid as the hoody you are currently wearing?' he teased with a grin.

'It smells like you' she said, totally mortified.

His face went blank before breaking into a wide, cocky smile.

'So I smell good huh?'

'I didn't say that'

'But it was inferred'

'I just like your washing detergent'

'Lenor soft and gentle, just like me' he said trying to look sweet and innocent.

'Oh shut up'

'And what do you use?'

'Persil small and mighty' she grinned.

'I should have guessed' he said with a mischievous smile, pushing her onto her back and coming to rest on top of her. He grinned down at her

and for a moment she lost herself in his eyes which were an even brighter blue than the spring sky which stretched endlessly above them. And

then he was leaning into her and their lips swiftly found each other, her tongue met his without any need for encouragement and soon they were

moving together in perfect time, Gwen slid her hands underneath his jacket and up underneath his t-shirt, finding the bare skin of his muscular

back as she gently tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth.

He rolled off of her and onto the picnic blanket beside her.

'Having problems with your self-control again?' she asked turning onto her side and propping herself up on one elbow to look down at him.

'Yep' he said with a smile, his eyes shut to the glare of the sun and her wicked smile.

* * *

'Come on in guys' Leon said brightly opening the door to them.

He led them down the narrow corridor and into the lounge where Merlin was already curled up on one of the sofas reading a copy of the

Guardian.

'Arthur you can just leave you suitcase in the corner, and I'll take both of your coats and bags' Leon offered.

'Do you want a hand?' Gwen asked.

'I'm good' he assured her, taking hers and Arthur's belonging from them and disappearing back into the hall.

'You alright Merlin?' Arthur asked.

'Uhuh' he mumbled in reply, his eyes scanning the page quickly before closing the paper and looking up at two of his best friends, who were

sitting awkwardly on the sofa opposite him.

He gawped at Gwen's chest.

'Errr Merlin?' Arthur said after a moment.

'Gwen, what the hell are you wearing?'

'Oh' she said looking down at her hoody with flushed cheeks, 'I forgot, it's a gift from Arthur'

'I figured' Merlin said shaking his head, 'jeez Arthur, why don't you just pee on her?'

The pair of them arched an eyebrow in unison, the same disparaging expression on the faces of both.

'You know what I mean, marking your territory and all that'

'Right' they said together, nodding superciliously.

'Though I should probably take it off' she grinned, pulling it over her head.

'Do you want any drinks?' Leon said poking his head around the door.

'A tea would be good' Gwen said with a smile

'Same for me please' Merlin said.

'I'll give you a hand' Arthur said getting up from the sofa.

He followed Leon down the hall to the kitchen who had to duck to avoid the low doorframe. They made their way into the kitchen and a truly

dreadful smell met their nostrils and it took all Arthur's self-control not to clamp his hands over his nose and mouth. The source of this assault on

the senses was bubbling away in a saucepan on the stove, over which stood Morgana looking perfectly sedate and wearing a flowered apron.

'Morgana?' Arthur said raising an eyebrow as he fought not to choke on the putrid air.

'Hey Arthur'

'So you're cooking?'

'Yes'

'Is that a good idea? Given what happened last time'

'What happened last time?' Leon asked looking rather perturbed.

'I still maintain that the cooker blew up of its own accord'

'Er' mumbled Leon, 'maybe I should take over the cooking for a bit'

'I _can_ cook' Morgana protested looking rather crushed.

'I know that' said Leon with a warm smile, 'but you've been working so hard, you deserve a break' he said putting an arm around her.

'That would be nice' she said with a smile, placing a swift kiss on his cheek as she untied her apron before disappearing out of the kitchen.

'That was impressive' Arthur said with a grin as he filled up the kettle.

'Not really, she's great'

'Have you met Morgana?' he joked.

Leon laughed.

'Can I ask you a quick question?'

'Eurgh' he said, looking rather uncomfortable.

'Don't worry, it's not about Morgana, it's actually about our mystery guest'

'Oh okay' he replied, the tension in his shoulders dissipating.

'I was wondering if they knew about me and Gwen?'

'Oh yeah, I invited one of the guys who were at the rugby, don't worry you don't need to hide anything'

'Great' Arthur sighed in relief.

Just then the doorbell rang.

'I'll get it' Arthur said.

He pulled open the door with a wide smile which was instantly wiped away but the familiar face which greeted him.

'Lancelot' he just managed to stammer.

'Hi'

There was a pause.

'Can I come in?'

'Why?'

'Because I'm here for the games night'

'No' Arthur said shaking his head in disbelief.

'Arthur' Gwen said brightly, skipping down the hall, 'what are you doing-'

'Lancelot' she breathed, 'you're not Leon's friend from work are you?'

'Guilty as charged' he grinned, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

'Well I guess you'd better come in' Gwen said forcing a smile.

As they moved aside to let Lancelot pass them she squeezed Arthur's hand.

'I didn't know about this, I swear' she said nervously in response to the stoniness of his expression.

He looked down at their interlinking fingers before raising his gaze to her face, 'I know' he said with a strained smile.

They entered the lounge to find an awkward silence, both Morgana and Merlin looking dumbstruck at the new arrival who was standing in the

corner looking uncomfortable.

'Here are everyone's drinks' Leon said entering the room.

'Thanks' they murmured in turn as they took their drinks gingerly from Leon.

'Lance, do you want anything to drink?'

'A coffee would be good'

Leon was about to disappear when Morgana jumped up from the sofa, 'I'll give you a hand'

The moment the kitchen door was shut, she rounded on him, 'what the hell is Lancelot doing here?'

'He's our number six, this way we have even numbers for teams'

'I understand the need for someone else, but why _him?_' she said, pacing back and forth.

'What's wrong with Lancelot?' Leon asked, a little defensively, 'he's a nice guy Morgana and he's been really down recently, and I was talking to

him about our plans this weekend and he just was so enthusiastic about it-'

'Did you mention who we were spending tonight with?'

'Yes'

'Then I think _that_ might have been the source of his enthusiasm'

'Why?'

'Come on Leon think about it?'

'Oh he and Gwen went on a date sometime last year or something-'

'Correction they dated for nearly a year then he ditched her before he left to go to China because he couldn't be arsed with long distance'

'She's still upset about it?' he said in disbelief, 'but she's with Arthur now'

'She's not upset, he is'

'What?' exclaimed Leon, shaking his head in confusion.

'Lancelot rocked up and expected her to still want him, he was sorely disappointed when he found out about Arthur and has spent most of the

last month trying to break them up.'

'Oh' said Leon slowly, 'I get it, so I guess Arthur's not his biggest fan?'

'Eureka I think he's got it'

'Sorry, I didn't mean to mess things up'

'It's okay' she said raising herself up on her toes and pressing a kiss to his lips.

'Oh, I think that's burning' she said pulling away from him and pointing at the saucepan from which dark clouds of smoke were now billowing,

before swiftly making her exit.

* * *

'So do you want to play another game of Pictionary?' Merlin asked brightly.

'No' came the vehement though mumbled response of the others.

The last game had been Merlin, Gwen and Arthur against the other three. And despite Arthur's tendency to snap the lead of his pencil every time

he was paired with Lancelot and Merlin's obsession with linking everything back to dragons or obscure rap music, they slaughtered the other

team, largely due to Gwen's remarkable ability to find meaning in the deranged squiggles of her teammates.

'What about Twister?' Leon said.

'I haven't played Twister in years' Lancelot said with a grin.

'I think I'll sit out of this one' Morgana said opening the box, 'besides, someone has to do the spinner'

Within a few minutes both Leon and Lancelot were out.

'Left hand red Gwen' called Morgana.

'Oh this is not fair' moaned Gwen as stretched over the top of Arthur who was now positioned, crab-like, directly below her, 'my limbs are not long

enough for this game'

'I don't think limb length is necessarily the key to success in this game,' Arthur said grinning up at her, 'look at Leon and he was pants- no offence

mate'

'None taken'

'Right hand yellow Merlin'

'Arthur, right foot green' he slipped his foot blindly towards a green spot but unfortunately clipped Gwen's foot on the way. Poor Gwen, whose

position had already been precarious, lost her balance and fell, pinning Arthur beneath her as they crashed to the floor.

'Er sorry' she said, rather flustered, her cheeks very pink as she lay on his chest.

'It was my pleasure' he replied rather dazedly as he admired the view down her t-shirt.

'I win!' shouted an overly-excited Merlin as Gwen clambered inelegantly off of Arthur and helped him up.

'Are you alright?' Gwen asked looking rather embarrassed.

'I can think of many things worse than having you on top of me' he whispered in her ear with a grin as she flushed an even deeper pink.

Lancelot eyed them suspiciously from his perch on the sofa.

Morgana looked across at him, noticing his narrowed eyes and fierce expression and just as he was about to open his mouth to speak she said,

with false brightness, 'I think it's time for dinner, Gwen love, would you mind giving me a hand?'

The two women left the room and left the men to their awkwardness as Leon, Merlin and Arthur endeavoured to discuss the football whilst the

other glowered at the blonde man sitting opposite him.

Several uncomfortable minutes later Gwen's call of 'dinner's up guys' interrupted the stilted conversation as they got up and filed into the dinning

room.

They looked down at their plates. Upon which sat a large piece of chicken swimming in a thick, lumpy, grey liquid, a large pile of lumpy, slightly

grey-looking mash potato beside it. The only colour on the plate was the stack of green beans which looked as if they had been boiled to within

an inch of their life and lay on a bed of unintentionally mushy peas. Arthur sat down beside Gwen, holding his breath to avoid inhaling the noxious

fumes emanating from their plates. They exchanged a glance and had to bite back their laughter.

They picked up their cutlery with some trepidation. Merlin however, dug in without complaint, 'this is good Morgana' he said through a mouthful of

mash potato.

Leon swiftly followed suit, making an 'mmmm' noise as he tried not to gag on a lump of chicken.

Gwen raised her fork to her mouth praying it tasted better than it smelt. _No, if anything it tasted worse,_ and it took her a great deal of effort to

hide her grimace.

Arthur took a bite of his meal after an encouraging nod from Gwen. He only just managed not to spit out the foul mouthful. There were many

things you could have called the dinner, but good would not be one of them. He supposed that Merlin must have built up an immunity to truly

revolting substances growing up with Hunith. Arthur had only once had the misfortune of enduring Hunith's cooking and had made sure never to

repeat the experience. And now he was confronted with something nearly equally disgusting and his girlfriend was looking at him with those

perfect, warm brown eyes wide and imploring. So he took another bite.

'I totally forgot the rolls' Morgana said getting up from the table, not having touched any of her own dinner.

The minute she had gone Arthur turned to Gwen, 'you are not going to make me eat all of it are you?'

'Not all of it, no' she said in a measured voice, 'but she tried really hard'

'But it's horrible'

'It's not _that _bad' Lancelot shot at him spitefully.

'Looks like being terrible at cooking runs your family eh?' Gwen said quietly with a grin, ignoring Lancelot.

'I am not _this_ bad' Arthur hissed back.

'Just be nice' Gwen said squeezing his hand as they heard the click-clack of Morgana's heels on the hallway floor.

'Here you go' Morgana said brightly placing the basket of rolls in the centre of the table.

'These look great' Merlin said taking one.

'Oh thanks, but I can't take any credit for them, they are shop bought'

The rest of the table launched themselves at the basket.

'Er what's going on?'

No one answered her.

'Nothing's going on' Gwen said quickly, taking another bite of her chicken as Merlin continued to shovel his dinner into his mouth.

'Yeah nothing' Arthur said following Gwen's lead.

'Okay…' Morgana said slowly before taking a bite of her dinner. Her eyes grew wide and gagged, spitting her mouthful into her serviette.

'I can't believe you let me put that in my mouth' she said looking horrified.

'Well we had to eat it' Arthur said with a grin.

'God, I am so sorry guys' Morgana said mortified, 'this is even worse than your cooking Arthur'

'I told you' he said turning smugly to Gwen.

'How about Chinese?' Leon said getting to his feet, 'we all appreciated the gesture hun' he said patting Morgana's shoulder.

'And the rolls are really good' Gwen said with a wink.

'Chinese sounds great' Merlin said putting his cutlery down on his now empty plate.

'Oh Merlin, you really didn't need to eat it all'

'It's no problem, I have eaten a whole lot worse' he beamed proudly.

* * *

They sat in the lounge and ate their Chinese straight out of the box, or attempted to. Despite being a seasoned consumer of Chinese food Arthur

had never become a proficient in the use of chopsticks and Gwen was taking the opportunity to educate him.

'No, Arthur you hold them like this' she said placing her hand over his.

'I am trying' he said, the tip of his tongue between his teeth in intent concentration.

'Arthur you need to relax, you are all stiff' she said without thinking. She flushed crimson, her whole face on fire as her companions turned to face

her. Leon, Morgana and Merlin simply looked amused while Arthur wore a cocky little smile and Lancelot scowled darkly.

'Can we turn on the TV?' Merlin asked from the floor, 'I just want to see the news headlines'

'Sure' Leon said, chucking him the remote.

* * *

It was not a particularly busy news night, there had been some new MP expenses scandal, fighting was continuing in Afghanistan, Labour was

closing the gap on the Conservatives in the opinion polls, some actress was planning to adopt another child and a train spotter from Derbyshire

had taught his parrot to use a type-writer.

'I give up' exclaimed Arthur in exasperation, 'please can I just use a fork? It'll get cold'

'Fine, but we are not going to a Chinese restaurant until you learn how to use chopsticks'

'But I like Chinese food' grumbled Arthur as he began to dig into his noodles.

'Who are you guys going to be voting for at the general election?' Merlin said switching off the television.

'It's supposed to be a secret ballot Merlin' Arthur said as he offered Gwen a spring roll.

'Well it's no secret who you'll be voting for' Lancelot snapped, 'a dead cert for the Conservatives if ever there was one'

'Actually, not that it's any of your business, but I'll be voting Lib Dem'

'Oh a champagne socialist then' Lancelot replied in an accusatory tone.

'Er' Gwen began, looking rather uncertainly between the two of them, unsure of exactly how the conversation had taken this sudden turn for the

worse.

'I would hardly say the Liberal Democrats are radical socialists, and I like their policies, that's all'

'But how does it benefit you?'

'I don't think it has to benefit me personally, I'm more interested in what's best for the country'

'Bullshit' snapped Lancelot, standing up, 'you're a bloody Pendragon, you are only interested when there is something in if for you'

'Whatever' Arthur said with a casual shrug.

'Oh so you're just giving up, just like that?'

'Well I hardly think this is the time or the place Lancelot'

'Let's make it the time and place pretty boy'

'Right' Gwen said jumping up from her seat and grabbing Lancelot by the arm, 'a word please' she said as she steered him out into the kitchen.

* * *

'What is your problem?' she said, turning on him the minute the door was shut, 'you came here knowing that we would be here as a couple, what

did expect?'

'You've slept with him haven't you?'

She blanched.

'That is none of your business'

'I can see it Gwen'

She turned away from him. 'Like I say, it is none of your business'

'So that's a yes'

She ran a hand through her curls in frustration, 'it makes no difference if I have or not, I am with him and that is not going to change'

'Then tell me you feel nothing for me'

'I can't' she said turning to face him with eyes begging him to understand, 'you are my friend, you are my ex, I cared for you a lot, I still do, but

not like _that_'

'I keep going through it in my mind, I was so stupid to leave. If I hadn't left, if I hadn't been such a fool, we would still be together.'

She shook her head, 'well there is no need to torment yourself' she smiled weakly, 'it wouldn't have lasted'

'Why not?' he demanded.

'Because I would have met Arthur'

'You'd met him plenty of times before'

'We only spent seconds together, but with he and Merlin getting closer all the time it wouldn't have been long before we would have got talking,

and once that happened I would have started having doubts about us and we would have fallen apart'

'So you care for him more than you cared for me?'

'I love him Lancelot' she said with tears in her eyes, 'I am so sorry, but that's the truth'

'But…'

'No, there are no buts, me and Arthur are together, end of story' she said as gently as possible, 'I never meant to hurt you.'

'I know' he nodded slowly as he fought the burning sensation at the back of his eyes.

'Can you just accept it?' she said her eyes searching his, a determined little frown creasing her forehead.

He kissed her. His lips were hard and desperate against hers and she pulled away almost instantly, her eyes wide and reproachful.

'I accept it Gwen' he said with a sad smile, 'though if you change your mind about him just give me a call'

'No' she said shaking her head quickly, 'because you deserve more than that, you deserve to be someone's fist choice Lancelot. You deserve

someone whose heart belongs to you and you alone, I can't offer you that and I will not stop you finding someone who can' she said smiling

through the tears which had begun to fall.

'I'll see you Monday' he said opening the kitchen door, 'please make my excuses to Leon and Morgana'

She nodded, her arms folded tightly across her chest.

'Goodbye Gwen'

'Goodbye Lancelot' she whispered as he disappeared down the hall. The front door opened and was quickly shut.

Gwen leant against the table, shutting her eyes as she tried to control her ragged breaths.

'Guinevere?' he said coming into the room and wrapping his arms around her waist.

'He's gone' she said faintly, 'I think he's finally got it'

'Are you okay?'

'Of course, I mean this is what I wanted'

'He was a big part of your life, and now he's gone. That must be hard'

'You're not mad?'

'Why would I be mad?'

'We kissed, technically he kissed me, but-'

'I figured'

'What?' she exclaimed, turning in the circle of his arms to face him.

'He wanted to check in everyway possible that you were sure of your decision, I guessed kissing you might be one of them'

'And you were cool with that?'

'Oh no, I wanted to come in and dash out his brains with a frying pan, still do as a matter of fact, but he deserved that chance, and you deserved

your chance to say yes to him.'

'So you're not mad?'

'You're still here aren't you?'

'Yes'

'And we are still together?'

'Yes'

'Then I'm not mad' he said grinning as he pressed his lips to hers, before breaking away 'you guys didn't use tongues did you?'

'No'

'Okay' he said kissing her once again.

He pulled away again.

'And you stopped it pretty quick right?'

'Yes'

His lips came to within an inch of her own before he said 'and you didn't like it or any-'

'Just shut up and kiss me otherwise I might just run after Lancelot and tell him I've changed my mind'

'I guess I don't have much of a choice then' he said in a husky voice as he backed her into the kitchen counter. She slid onto the side so that their

eyes were level and he was standing in between her legs. He leant into her as she wrapped her legs around his waist and worked her fingers

into his hair.

A cough.

Two pairs of eyes flew open as they turned in unison to see Merlin standing in the doorway, the cheeks of both rather flushed.

'Merlin what's going on?' came Leon's shout from the lounge.

'They are getting off, just like I told you they would be' Merlin hollered back.

Gwen slid off the side, her face a bright pink.

'Well we are going to play cards if you want to join us?'

'Sure' they said together.

'Cool, though I think Leon would appreciate it if you disinfected his counter top first' Merlin said with a grin.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry I took a while with this, but RL is very busy atm and I managed to totally bugger up my computer, I got some nasty virus thingme on it, though fortunately I had a knight in shining armour to save me :P, hope you enjoyed the chapter I am planning on doing 2 more chapters for this fic, though it might end up being 3, i can't be sure. Thanks so much for all the support and the reviews, and actually just for reading my fics too :D x_


	9. Chapter 9

'Hang on just one more second, I just want to send this last e-mail'

'Arthur you've been saying that for the last twenty minutes' she said from her perch on his desk as she kicked off her heels.

'But I really mean it this time' he said, not even looking up from screen of his computer as he tapped away furiously on his keyboard.

'_Arthur' _she breathed leaning into him, running a toe up the inside of his leg.

She heard him gasp softly as his whole body tensed.

He raised accusatory eyes to hers.

She raised a teasing eyebrow in response.

'Okay' he said putting up his hands, admitting his defeat, 'I'm done, I'm all yours'

'Perfect' she said with a grin as she leant across him and switched off the computer.

* * *

'I'm sorry we couldn't do anything very special tonight' Gwen said as they crossed the road.

'Tomorrow is a big day for both of us, this deal is massive, I think you were totally right to suggest us keeping it fairly quiet tonight'

'I didn't say anything about keeping it quiet' she said raising her eyebrows suggestively.

He gave her a goofy grin, his cheeks a little pink.

She smiled as she gave his hand a little squeeze, enjoying the power she had to reduce him to the state of an awkward teenage boy, knowing all the while that with one touch, one kiss, one word, one look,

he could turn her into little more than a gibbering wreck.

'So what's the plan for tonight?' he said recovering his brain function.

'I'll make us something for dinner and then I was thinking we could finish Pride and Prejudice'

'Sounds great, I totally forgot that we never did manage to get through the whole thing'

'We got a little sidetracked if I remember correctly' she grinned.

'Indeed' he grinned back.

'And tonight we can finally get _sidetracked_ again'

'Are you sure you feel ready to take that step?' he teased as they got into the lift 'are you sure you wouldn't rather wait?'

She was silent for a moment, 'maybe we should wait' she said running a fevered hand through her hair as the lift doors chunked open to reveal his landing.

His jaw dropped. His eyes sought hers by she refused to raise them from the lift floor.

'I'm sorry Arthur but we've just been moving so fast and this whole thing is kinda crazy, I think maybe we need some space, you know, cool off a bit'

'What?' he just managed to choke as the doors slid shut on them once more.

'You were totally right to question whether or not I was ready for this. It was only then that it hit me, if I'm completely honest with myself, I'm not.'

He felt totally hollow, unsure of how to respond. He looked at his shoes.

Then she was taking several steps towards him, so they were barely a foot apart, her closeness forcing him to look up into her face.

She was shaking with silent giggles, 'you are such a sucker'

'I- I-' he stuttered, '-I hate you!'

'Love you too' she grinned 'you are just so-' but her words were cut off by him pressing her tightly against the lift wall in one swift motion, his lips firm against hers. His hands slipped to her waist and began to

make their way up underneath her shirt.

'Er Arthur' she said pulling away, 'don't you have CCTV in this lift?'

'Oh shit, yeah' he said taking a step away from her, 'well we better keep it PG then' he said with a grin.

He pushed the button to open the lift doors. They slid open with a mechanical clunk.

They stepped out into the hallway and he unlocked his front door.

Before the door was shut behind them his lips were on hers again.

'What are you doing?' she said as he began to undo the buttons of her shirt.

'No cameras here' he smiled as he ran his tongue along her collar bone.

'But what about dinner and P&P?' she said with a faint frown.

'You want to do that first?'

'Well given that I've waited for a month, I think you can survive for a few hours' she said doing up her shirt.

He took a deep breath and said, in a voice which was higher than normal, 'sure'

'Are you hungry or do you want to watch Pride and Prejudice first?'

'I'm happy to wait, if you are'

* * *

'They are a pretty cute couple' he said as he observed Elizabeth and Darcy's exchange of _significant _looks, 'though I reckon it's a bit fishy that she's starting to get all interested in him now she's seen his

massive mansion'

'You're such a cynic'

'Wickham is such a bastard, I just knew we weren't finished with him'

'Darcy, what the hell are you doing? Don't just walk away' he shouted at the screen.

Gwen laughed and Arthur turned a deep shade of pink.

'Sorry' he muttered.

'It's okay, I think it's very cute that you get so into Jane Austen'

'Cute?' he asked with a look of disgust.

'Okay, very manly and incredibly macho' she amended with a grin.

* * *

The credits began to roll.

'Do you fancy some dinner now?' Gwen asked getting up from her seat.

'Sounds great, I'll give you a hand though'

'Er-'

'I want to'

'Okay' she said a little warily 'but you are not allowed to touch the hob'

'Like I said tonight your wish is my command' he said with that boyish grin of his that made her mind go blank. And before she knew it she was pushing him back onto the sofa, and before she had time to

register anything, she was lying flat on her back against the cushions, Arthur's body flush against her own as he kissed her hungrily while she hastily unbuttoned his shirt. Her fingertips found the bare skin of

his chest as his mouth made its way to her neck. And then all of a sudden his warm comfortable weight was gone and he was scooping her up into his arms. She would have gasped if she could have

remembered how to. She settled instead for linking her arms around his neck and relaxing into his chest, her cheeks rather hot. He carried her across the threshold of the bedroom, pausing only briefly to

nudge the door with his foot so it shut with a gentle click.

* * *

They lay for a few moments just staring up at the ceiling struggling to regain control over their breathing.

'Well' she said breathlessly, 'that was some work out'

'Glad to have been of service' he said with a grin, turning to face her, propping himself up on one elbow.

'I wish this could be classified as a sport, it certainly would have made P.E. lessons a whole lot more fun' she said with a smile as her chest continued to heave.

'So you had fun then?' he said with a cocky grin.

'Yeah' she said nonchalantly, 'but it wasn't perfect'

The cocky smile vanished and the expression of a wounded puppy replaced it.

'But you know what they say about practice' she said with a mischievous grin, propping herself up on her elbows too.

'I have always been a great fan of that philosophy myself. But I am going to need a little time to...' he trailed off, his face a little pink.

'Okay' she said as he watched her slide out of the bed and cross to the dresser.

He admired the way that even in the gloom her skin seemed to radiate a faint golden glow, the way that her rebellious curls fell against her bare back, the way-

'Er, Arthur are you okay?' she said turning her head to face him and making his soppy smile grow even broader, 'only you look like you've just had a stroke' she said as she pulled on a pair of his boxers and

threw on the hoody he had bought her; and had since washed with his detergent.

'I'm just great'

'Okay' she said a little uncertainly, breathing in his smell, 'well I'll go and make us a cup of tea while you..._recover_'

'Sounds perfect' he breathed as he watched her leave; his insides performing a spectacular array of gymnastics.

* * *

She entered the kitchen and turned on the radio, finally succumbing to a smile as equally goofy as Arthur's. She could not fight back a feeling of elation. Never before had she felt this comfortable with someone

and yet blown away by them all at once. And she had never felt more wanted than she had as he had held her in his arms. As she waited for the kettle to boil she spun around the room to Lionel Richie's

Dancing on the Ceiling which was blaring from the radio.

The kettle boiled and she danced over to it, spoon in hand, just as she became aware of a presence in the kitchen. She turned.

Uther Pendragon stood before her.

Her absurd smile slid off her face and onto the floor.

She gulped as he turned off the radio.

They stood in complete silence for almost a minute, Uther eyeing her hoody with a raised eyebrow.

'So did you have a nice trip sir?' she said with false brightness, breaking the quiet.

He did not speak for several seconds and Gwen felt colour rush into her cheeks. She did not imagine this was what Arthur had had in mind for her meeting his father on _his terms. _

'Who the hell are you?'

'I'm Guinevere Leodegrance' she said trying to stay calm, 'I'm-'

'Morgana's assistant, I remember' he said, cutting her off, 'then would you kindly tell me what you are doing in my son's apartment'

'Er' she hesitated, not sure it was her place to tell him.

'I can guess. You thought that while I was out of the country and Arthur was acting CEO you'd jump into bed with him in order to get your grubby little hands on a promotion'

'You're wrong' she stated.

'I'm not, I know your type, you are only interested in him because of his money, because of what you can get out of it'

'Then you must not think very highly of your son'

'Excuse me' he said incredulously.

'If you think that money and a promotion are the only reasons a woman like me could be interested in him'

'That is not what I meant' he said through gritted teeth, 'I see women like you throw themselves at him all the time, but I assure you, he will soon get bored of you and cast you aside like all the others'

'We'll see' she responded calmly and politely.

'Gwen, what are you-' Arthur yawned as he strolled into the kitchen, stopping dead in his tracks as his gaze found his father.

He looked between Uther and Gwen and back again.

'Dad' he said, his voice high and rather thin, 'I thought you weren't getting back until next week'

'Plans change' he said coolly.

He made a soft 'uhuh' noise at the back of his throat.

He took a deep breath and said 'so I see you've met my girlfriend' as he crossed the kitchen to stand beside her.

'Girlfriend?' Uther sneered.

'Yeah' he said taking her hand.

Uther's features softened for a moment as a look of uncertainty crossed his face.

'I'm sorry that this is how you found out, I wanted to tell you but-'

'I think we should discuss this in private' Uther said pointedly looking at Gwen.

'I should be going anyway' she said squeezing Arthur's hand then dropping it.

'No stay' he said.

'I'll see you tomorrow morning' she said, raising herself up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

'I'll call you later okay?'

'Okay' she said with a sweet smile as she left the kitchen.

Arthur watched her go with a dopey smile before the sound of his father clearing his throat swiftly brought him back to reality.

'So?' Uther said.

'So what?' Arthur said blankly, feeling distinctly like a five year old boy who had just been caught red handed.

'You don't have to pretend anymore; she is just a one night thing, right?' he said seeking confirmation.

'You don't sound sure'

'Well I haven't heard you call someone your _girlfriend_ in a long time'

'That's because I haven't had one in years'

'And _that _is the girl you choose?' he asked disbelief and distain in his voice.

'I'm sorry, but what are you inferring?' Arthur asked, anger already boiling in his gut.

'Arthur, you could date anyone and you chose _her, _she is a nobody and so _ordinary'_ he uttered the last word as if it was a filthy slur.

'You're right, she's not an actress or a model, or a millionaire but that does not make her a nobody. She is intelligent, kind, witty, caring, beautiful and she definitely is somebody to me.'

Uther raised a sceptical eyebrow, 'you can not be serious about this'

'I'm dead serious'

'This is just a phase Arthur, it will pass, you will-'

'I love her' he said cutting him off.

Uther stared at his son.

'I'm off' Gwen said popping her head around the door, now fully dressed.

'Can you drop by before the meeting? I'd like to talk strategy'

'Sure' she smiled, 'I'll stop by your office at nine if that suits you?'

'Perfect'

'Have a good evening sir' Gwen said politely to Uther as she threw her bag over her shoulder.

'Night Guinevere' Arthur said as she turned to leave.

'Night Arthur'

The front door snapped shut.

There was half a minute of silence before Uther spoke.

'What meeting?'

'The meeting with the Co-operative, it was Guinevere who secured the deal so they wanted her to be involved in the negotiations' Arthur said smugly.

'It was _her_?' he said incredulously, Arthur nodded, 'Charles _did_ tell me the meeting had been secured through rather unorthodox means I suppose'

'I told you she's sharp'

'No, if anything it just proves she's manipulative'

'If it was anyone else you'd be congratulating her'

'Yes, anyone who isn't messing with my son'

'Messing with?'

'She is playing you Arthur, she is using you and you are blind to it'

'I think it's time you left' Arthur said coldly.

'You will regret not listening to me'

'We'll see' Arthur said opening the front door for his father.

'I guess we will' Uther muttered as he son shut the door behind him. _It sure was good to be back _he thought bitterly.

* * *

'Gaius'

'Uther, you look well rested, the Maldives suits you' the old physician said gesturing for Uther to come inside, 'I take it this is a social call?'

'Yes, I need your advice'

'I will help in any way I can' Gaius said sitting down in one of the armchairs by the hearth and motioning for Uther to take the other.

'It is about Arthur'

'I see' he said over his steepled figures, 'I don't think there is anything to worry about, he has matured greatly recently and has shouldered the responsibility of the company with great stoicism. You should be

very proud of him'

'I am' Uther said a little defensively, 'but there is a girl-'

'Ah so you know about Guinevere' Gaius smiled, 'Arthur did not hang about in telling you then'

'I met her not an hour ago, she was at his apartment'

'Okay'

'You seem very calm about this'

'That is because I am, I have known about them for a while'

'And you did not think to tell me?'

'It was not my place'

'Well someone should have told me' he spat.

'Maybe people thought you might overreact' Gaius said, trying to hide his smile.

'But I have to do something, this can not be allowed to continue' Uther said standing up and beginning to pace.

'May I ask why not?'

'Because this is just a passing phase'

'I have seen them together and I do not believe that'

'He told me he loves her'

'I think he speaks the truth'

'Then she is only after him for his money'

'I highly doubt that'

'Why?'

'I have known Guinevere for many years and I can not think of a better, kinder girl and I think she cares a great deal for your son'

'But what about when word of this gets to the press?'

'I'm sorry?'

'That he is dating a nobody, he ought to be thinking about the way this is going to reflect on the company'

'I do not think that he should have to be thinking about such things when it comes to personal matters'

'I had to'

'But you were lucky enough to find someone you love who also ticked all the boxes for the press, however I suspect the former was the more powerful motivation.'

'You are comparing this _girl_ to Igraine?' Uther said, his features dark, 'you think it could be _that _serious?'

'Possibly'

'Then we definitely need a plan'

'Uther I would advise you to think over whether or not you really want to do this. If Arthur cares for her as much as he says he does he will not look kindly on you interfering, you will alienate Morgana as this

girl is her best friend, a number of the staff already know about their relationship and fully support it, and I refuse to have anything to do with this.'

'What?'

'They are young and in love and happy, just leave them be'

'She is not right for him'

'You are making a mistake'

'So you will not support me?'

'No, and I doubt you will find many willing to do so'

'The Board will I am sure'

'She is responsible for the deal with the Co-operative from what Merlin tells me, the Board will not wish to meddle for fear of damaging negotiations. Besides as long as it does not affect their work the Board

will not step in.'

'Then I guess I will have to resolve this little problem alone'

'You will regret this Uther'

'We will see' he said as he left the old man and marched out of the front door.

He drew his phone out of his jacket pocket 'Vivian? Long time no see. I was just wondering if you had plans for Saturday night because it's the Pendragon Group mixer and I know Arthur has just been dying to

see you again.'

* * *

  
_A/N: sorry this is a bit crap, RL is totally crazy at the mo so this chapter was written in the small hours of this morning. Also I don't think I got Uther right at all. Haven't had much practice writing him. There is just one more chapter to go I reckon, then I'll be done with this fic, though I can not guarentee when it will be up as next weekend is insanely busy. Thanks for reading as always and reviews/ comments are always appreciated :D x_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: sorry about this taking so long, combo of mega-stressful rl and serious case of writer's block. So here's the final installment- with some Vivian thrown in for the lovely PB Headless x _

There was a knock at the door.

'Come in' Arthur said without looking up from the documents in his hand.

'Arthur?'

'I'm really busy right now, so can you make it quick?'

'I wanted to congratulate you on securing the deal'

'I think you should be congratulating Gwen, we couldn't have done it without her'

'Why do you have to make it about her?'

Arthur's eyes snapped upwards and stared at his father.

'Because I was trying to give credit where credit is due, I know that might be a foreign concept to you, but that's the way I like to work'

'Stop acting like a child'

'I'm sorry?'

'You're sulking because I don't like your latest conquest, come on Arthur, grow up'

'I'm really busy' he said neutrally looking back down at his papers, 'so you should probably go'

Uther strode out of the door, slamming it shut behind him, and almost knocking over the young woman who was making her way down the corridor, a brown paper bag in her hand.

'Sorry' he said quickly before he recognised the mass of dark curls and chocolate brown eyes. It was Guinevere.

'No problem sir' she said with a smile.

'Congratulations Guinevere' he said in bitter tones.

He stared at her for a moment then walked away without another word.

She watched his retreating back a frown on her face.

She opened Arthur's office door.

He looked up and a wide, though distinctly tired smile graced his lips.

'I come bearing lunch' she said with a grin.

* * *

'So are you going to the mixer tomorrow night?' Arthur said through a mouthful of sandwich.

'I guess so' Gwen shrugged, 'normally I go along as Morgana's wing-woman, but now she's with Leon I guess she doesn't really need me. Not that I mind not trailing after her for most of the evening while she

mingles with _everyone._'

He took a swig of water and grinned, 'so you are free?'

'Yes, but you _have_ to go Arthur'

'I know, but I was hoping that you might keep me company' he said rather hopefully.

'Er, Arthur, I don't know if that's a good idea'

'We only said we'd keep it quiet until Dad found out, he knows now, so what's the problem?'

'I think he might see it as a bit of a slap in the face'

'Who cares?'

'I do' she laughed, 'I know you want to piss off your Dad but I don't really want him to hate me'

'Fine' he sighed, 'but I don't have to ignore you right?'

'You'd better not' she said leaning across to press a swift kiss on his lips.

* * *

Arthur looked around the crowded bar. He saw many familiar faces, not that he could put a name to most of them. He spotted Merlin at the bar, already looking slightly the worse for wear.

'Are you alright mate?' Arthur said, sitting down on the barstool beside his friend, 'you don't look so good'

'I'm fine' Merlin slurred, 'don't worry about me _Atur_ it's her loss right?'

'What?' Arthur said shaking his head in confusion, 'what are you talking about?'

'I loved her you know' he said running his finger around his shot glass.

'What happen?' Arthur asked his eyes full of concern.

'We had a fight and she said she needs some space' he chuckled morosely, 'you'd think the whole bloody Atlantic Ocean would be enough space'

'Shit' breathed Arthur running a hand through his hair. He did not know what to say, 'I'm sorry' he murmured, knowing how pathetic it sounded.

'It's okay' Merlin mumbled, 'tisn't your fault. It's just women isn't it. You give 'em your heart and they stomp all over it.'

'It's not all women'

'Not Gwen eh?'

Arthur shrugged. 'Merlin-' he began.

'Arthur!' came a shrill voice.

He turned to face the source, dread stirring in his gut.

Vivian.

'Oh God Martin' she said looking at Merlin with something akin to disgust on her face 'you look awful. Doesn't he look dreadful Arthur? Martin you _really _shouldn't come to parties with a face like that, you totally

dampen the mood-' she was about to continue when Arthur cut her off, noticing the expression on Merlin's face.

'Mate, do you mind if I have a word with Vivian for a minute?'

'Be my guest' Merlin replied grumpily.

'Oh and no more drinks for him' Arthur hissed to the barman before he left.

'Er, what are you doing here?' he asked as politely as possible as he dragged Vivian away from the bar.

She giggled, 'don't pretend you don't know'

He looked bemusedly at the striking young woman who stood before him. She wore a strapless black dress which was so short and tight fitting that it left nothing to the imagination.

She leant in to him, 'I've missed you too' she whispered seductively in his ear as she gave his arm a gentle squeeze. He recoiled, 'Vivian? What are you talking about?'

'Don't play dumb with me Arthur. Your father called me to tell me'

'Tell you what?' he said suspiciously as comprehension dawned.

'That you're still in love with me silly' she tittered running a hand across his chest.

He took her hand deliberately off his chest and placed it pointedly by her side.

'I'm actually with someone else'

She giggled her tinkling little laugh again, 'don't worry I didn't think that you'd become a monk or something. Just ditch her'

'No'

'But Daddy says it okay for us to date now, once you've proved to him that you are suitable of course.'

'I'm sorry but I'm not interested'

'Arthur we are in _love_'

'No we're not'

'Did our relationship mean nothing to you?' she snapped dramatically.

'It was two weeks in Bermuda and it was two and a half years ago' he said exasperatedly.

'But we connected on a deep and meaningful level'

He had to bite back a laugh. 'Look I'm with someone else okay. Let's just leave it at that.'

'There is no way she is better than me'

Before Arthur could respond, 'I mean how can she be? I am a successful model/actress. I came fourteenth on the 2009 FHM hundred sexiest women list. To be honest I could have settled with fourteenth until I

saw the people above me. Did you see number eight? I'm sorry but that is what nose jobs were invented for. But back to the point. I have more money than I know what to do with. And I am a successful

businesswoman, did you know that I brought out my own line of perfume last month?' she paused for breath, 'and we just _look_ so great together. Our kids would be gorgeous-'

He had to stop her there, 'actually I think I'm just going to stick with my current girlfriend. Oh no' he said as he spotted Gwen making her way through the crowd towards them.

'Oh no?' Vivian said lifting herself up on her toes to stare in the direction Arthur had been looking.

'Hi' Gwen said with a wide smile as she reached them, 'er, Arthur are you alright?'

'Hhhmm?' he said distractedly, gazing at her, a dopey expression on his face. She was wearing a floor length, silk, red dress. She coloured as he surveyed her with great approval, tugging self-consciously at

the material.

'Morgana bought it for me for helping her out with Leon. I told her she was being ridiculous but-'

'I will have to thank her later' Arthur grinned.

'You don't think it's too much?'

'It's perfect, you look beautiful'

She flushed deeply.

'Do you like _my_ dress Arthur?' Vivian said reminding them that she was still there.

'Oh sorry Vivian and yeah it's very…' he searched for the right word, not able to find one he settled for: 'nice?'

'You look lovely' Gwen offered politely.

'Who are you anyway?'

'This is Guinevere, my girlfriend' he said with a smile, pressing his hand gently against the small of Gwen's back.

Vivian snorted. Then when the others remained silent she said, 'you're not serious?'

He nodded.

'Oh my God, I heard from Daddy that you were doing charity work or something, but I didn't realise that extended to dating'

Arthur and Gwen exchanged a half-amused look.

* * *

'So what's Arthur Pendragon like as a boss?' the young man sitting next to him asked, observing the focus of Merlin's gaze.

'He's nice. He was a bit of a twat when I first started working for him. But he's actually a really good guy' Merlin mumbled.

'Bit of a playboy I heard' the man said.

Merlin chuckled, 'not really and not at all anymore because he's in L-O-V-E, luuuurve' he giggled.

'Oh really?'

'Yep'

'Is she here?'

'Uhuh' Merlin nodded, 'she's over there with him right now' he said pointing.

'The little blonde one?'

'Don't be stupid' Merlin slurred 'Gwen's the one in the red dress'

'Really?'

'Yeah, she's my best friend you know'

'Really?'

'You need to stop saying that'

'Sorry, she just isn't what I expected'

'She wasn't what Arthur was expecting either I don't think'

'So can you tell me more about them?'

'Why are you so interested?' Merlin asked a little suspiciously.

'Just curious'

'Okay' Merlin shrugged, then suddenly looking much happier said 'I was the one who got them together you see…'

* * *

'I still can't quite believe it; you turned me down, for _this?_' Vivian said still in shock, looking Gwen up and down. 'I mean I know they say love is blind, but I didn't realise they meant literally'

Arthur felt the beginnings of anger coiling in his stomach, but Gwen just laughed.

'There's no explaining attraction' she grinned, squeezing Arthur's hand tenderly.

'Evidently' said Vivian, flaring her nostrils in distain.

'And it's probably a good thing he turned you down, I mean would you really want to date someone with as poor a taste as his?' she said nudging Arthur in ribs, 'would you really want to date someone whose

list of ex-girlfriends includes someone like me? I mean think how the media would see that'

'I suppose you're right' Vivian forced a tight lipped smile, 'so can you point me in the direction of some men with decent taste?' she asked Gwen snidely. But it was Arthur who answered her.

'You see that guy over there, tall, dark, handsome type?'

'In the corner?'

'Yeah, well I happen to know that he's single and I reckon you two might just be made for each other'

As Vivian left, carving her way through the crowd Gwen turned on him, 'that was mean'

'You could have stopped me'

'I could have done' she giggled as they watched Vivian accost a surprised looking Lancelot.

'I better go and check on Merlin'

'What's wrong?' Gwen said, suddenly concerned.

'He had a fight with Freya' he said with a worried frown.

'Oh' Gwen said with a look of comprehension, 'I wouldn't worry about it' she smiled, squeezing Arthur's arm, 'this happens fairly regularly, they have a fight, Merlin drinks too much, they make up, Merlin drinks

too much, it's very simple'

Arthur still looked rather unconvinced.

'I'll talk to him' she said, 'you should probably go and mingle or something, I don't want your dad blaming me for distracting you'

'Then you probably shouldn't have worn that dress' he said with a grin.

'See you later' she smiled, her cheeks on fire.

* * *

She made her way through the room and towards the bar, but her path was soon blocked by her employer.

'A word Guinevere?'

'Of course sir' she said inclining her head.

Without another word he was leading her out of the bar and up the stairs to a private room.

'So I see you met Vivian' he said the moment the door was shut.

'Yes'

'I think Arthur and she make a lovely couple'

'I suppose'

'You are agreeing with me?'

'Yes, she and Arthur do make a very pretty couple and she is a better match for him in fame and fortune than I could ever be. But if you think that they are a match in character then you do not know your son

or you have never spent more than two consecutive seconds with Vivian. I am sorry that I am not the kind of woman you wanted for your son, but that does not change the fact that we are together.'

'He slept with her you know?'

'I guessed as much'

'And that doesn't bother you?'

'He's not sleeping with her now, so why should it?'

'He has a past'

'Everyone has a past. He has accepted mine and I have accepted his'

'You are not what he needs'

'Surely that's his decision to make'

'He will get tired of you'

'I doubt that'

'Oh, you are certainly very sure of yourself'

'No I only doubt it because of your behaviour'

'I'm sorry?' he said incredulously

'You are a shrewd businessman Mr Pendragon and I have worked for your company long enough to know that you value your time and effort very highly, which of course is totally understandable. This means

that you only put in your time and effort where it is necessary and worth your while. If you truly believed that Arthur will tire of me in a few weeks you would not be wasting your breath trying to convince me to

end it with him, or calling up his ex-lovers and inviting them to company mixers, which is, I suspect, what Vivian is doing here'

'You're a smart girl'

'Thank you'

'But what you are doing is wrong, you are driving a wedge between father and son'

'No' she said simply, 'I'm not doing that, _you_ are'

'What are you talking about?'

'I'm a symptom, not the cause of the distance between you, sir. Your son is growing up. And you hate that. You hate that you no longer have control over him. And even more than that, you hate the fact that

he is turning away from the life you wanted for him.'

'If you really cared for him you would not be doing this'

'Just because he does not wish to live your life does not mean he is turning away from you. It only means that he is pursuing his own path. This wedge between you and Arthur was created by you refusing to

accept that. And that is why I won't be leaving. If it was just a case of me being the one problem maybe I could. My mother died when I was young too, so I know what it is like for your whole world to be your

father. There is no way I would want to damage the bond between you. But if it isn't me it will be something else, his friends, his attitude towards the business, the way he treats his employees, another girl.

He is becoming his own man and you are struggling to cope with it.'

'You seem to think you have me pegged'

'Well don't I?' she said with a cocked eyebrow.

He almost smiled.

'What you are feeling is totally natural. You want to protect him always and losing control of him makes that so much harder. But he is no longer a child. You have to let him go to a certain extent or you will lose

him totally.'

Uther was silent as he meditated on her words.

'But know this, he loves you and he wants nothing more to make you proud, but proud of the man he is, not by pretending to be something he's not.'

He watched her with a curious expression.

'Sir?' she said looking nervous.

'You remind me a lot of someone I knew once...' he trailed off.

She frowned slightly, waiting for him to continue, when he did not, she said 'I'm sorry, but I ought to be going'

'Of course'

The door opened and then snapped shut behind her.

He slumped down in a leather armchair, a strange array of emotions swelling within him. He sat in silence, trying to make head or tail of them with little success. But one question floated to the surface,

breaking through his confusion, refusing to be submerged, _how long would it be before Arthur asked him for Igraine's ring?_

* * *

'Merlin?'

'Hey Guinevere' he slurred, 'have you met my friend Jack?'

'No I haven't had the pleasure' Gwen said extending her hand to the young man on the stool beside her friend, 'so you've been looking after Merlin for me?' she grinned.

'Oh no' Jack said waving away her thanks, 'he's just been keeping me entertained with stories about you'

'Nothing too embarrassing I hope'

'Not all, he's just been tell me about you and that young man over there' he said with a wink, pointing at a golden head in the crowd.

She forced a smile, 'I see, well would you mind not telling anyone, we are trying to keep it pretty quiet'

'I won't tell a soul' he grinned, drawing an imaginary zip across his lips.

'Thank you' she smiled sweetly.

Then Merlin's phone rang.

He snatched it up off the bar, nearly dropping it in his haste to press the receive button.

'Freya!' he shouted down the phone 'I can't quite hear you! I'll- go-find-somewhere-quiet!' he bellowed.

Then covering the receiver he hissed 'it's Freya'

'I figured' said Gwen with a warm smile, 'go upstairs, its quiet there'

Merlin practically ran for the stairs.

She watched him go.

'His girlfriend?'

She nodded with a smile.

'They been together long?'

'Just over a year'

'So longer than you and Arthur?'

She nodded, a small frown lining her forehead.

'But Merlin said you're pretty serious?'

'I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with discussing this' she said politely, looking down at her shoes, her cheeks rather pink.

'Oh of course' he said quickly, 'sorry, that was very rude of me, I just think that it's so great that someone like Arthur Pendragon is dating someone...'

'Ordinary?' she suggested.

'I suppose, but it wasn't supposed to sound as bad as that'

'I don't really mind being _ordinary_' she said with a smile, 'there have been worse things said about me since I started dating Arthur and I imagine there will be many more in the future'

'And that doesn't bother you?' he asked, leaning into her.

She shrugged, 'not enough to stop me dating him'

'Hey' said Arthur loudly coming over to them as they drew apart.

'I thought you were supposed to be mingling?'

'Change of plans' he said standing defensively behind Gwen, 'I thought I would come and check on my _girlfriend'_ he said pointedly, looking at the young man with narrowed eyes.

'We were just talking about you actually' Jack said quickly, 'I was just about to tell Gwen what Merlin said about you two being so great for each other'

'Oh' Arthur said, 'wow, so me marching over here was totally unjustified and ridiculously overprotective?' he said looking rather embarrassed.

'Yep' Gwen said with a grin.

'Sorry' Arthur said again, looking at the floor.

'No problem'

Arthur turned to Gwen, 'do you want to dance?'

'We can't, not here'

'But the dance floor is really dark'

'It's true' Jack chipped in, 'the far left hand corner is almost pitch black'

'Come on Gwen' Arthur said, looking much like a five year old desperate to unwrap his Christmas presents.

'You don't mind?' she asked Jack.

'Course not' he grinned, 'I'll just wait for Merlin'

Arthur mouthed 'thanks' as pushed a still slightly reluctant Guinevere in the direction of the dance floor.

As they made their way onto the dance floor Jack pulled a camera from his bag. He zoomed in on the young couple. Click. He'd found his story.

* * *

'Errrrrrrr, Gwen I don't feel so good' Merlin said as he stumbled out of the bar, Arthur and Gwen supporting him.

'I think that might have something to do with the celebratory Sambuca you downed while we weren't looking' Gwen said, half exasperated, half amused.

'She still loves me' he said, punching the air and missing Arthur's nose by centimetres, 'she doesn't want to break up'

'Yes Merlin' Gwen said gently as if speaking to a small child. _She had obvious dealt with an intoxicated Merlin before. _

'Do you both want to crash round mine?' Arthur asked, 'it's only a five minute walk from here'

'That would be great' she smiled gratefully

'Come on Merlin' Arthur said, shouldering most of his weight, 'just keep walking.'

'I really love you guys' Merlin mumbled as he nearly tripped over his feet, 'I'm so glad you found each other, you make him much less of a prat Gwen'

She laughed, 'glad to have been of service'

Merlin fell silent for a moment, pondering something, 'Gwen would you change your surname if you married Arthur?'

The pair of them nearly dropped Merlin who was hanging limply between them, both pairs of cheeks turning scarlet.

'I haven't really thought about it to be honest' Gwen stammered trying to avoid looking at Arthur.

'I was just wondering, 'cause Arthur's surname's a bit weird and Gwen Pendragon just sounds rubbish' he said shrugging, 'though Guinevere Pendragon does sound rather impressive now I think about it.'

'Errr' Gwen said nervously, not sure of how to respond.

'Sorry' Merlin said, finally realising the awkwardness of the situation he had created, 'tonight I was just thinking about how Uther will react when you guys get married and all'

Gwen choked on a lungful of air, 'Jeez Merlin, it's a bit early to be thinking about _that_' she said quickly.

She didn't miss the red flush that darkened Arthur's cheeks.

'How much further?' moaned Merlin.

'Not far' Arthur replied.

'I'm tired'

'Snap'

'I'm hungry'

'So?'

'Have you got cheetos at home?'

'No'

'But I want cheetos' moaned Merlin. Arthur breathed an exasperated sigh.

'Arthur does have ice cream at his though'

'Really?' Merlin said, his face brightening instantly.

'Yes' Gwen said calmly, 'and if you are good until we get there you can have some, so no more whining 'kay?'

'Alright' said Merlin before sinking into a sleepy silence. Arthur looked over at Gwen with admiring eyes.

* * *

'Do you have sprinkles?'

'No I don't'

'Ice cream isn't as good without sprinkles'

'I'll remember that the next time you do my shopping for me'

'I like ice cream' Merlin said as he licked his spoon.

'I figured' Arthur yawned over his cup of tea.

'Now put your bowl and spoon in the dishwasher Merlin' Gwen instructed.

'I don't want to' he said folding his arms and jutting out his bottom lip.

'_Merlin_' Arthur said warningly.

'Fine' he said standing up dramatically and flouncing over to the dishwasher and thrusting his dirty dishes inside.

He then made his way over to the sofa, 'can I have a duvet please?'

'What?'

'A duvet for the sofa'

'You can sleep in the spare room'

'But Gwen's sleeping in there'

'She can sleep in with me'

'You can't have sex while I'm next door!' Merlin shouted indignantly.

'Keep your voice down' hissed Gwen.

'That is sooooooooo gross' he said in a vehement whisper.

'Just because we are sleeping in the same bed doesn't mean we are going to have sex' Arthur said reasonably.

Merlin let out a snort of laughter, 'after the way you have been drooling over her all evening?'

Arthur and Gwen's cheeks coloured in unison.

'Sorry' Arthur mumbled.

A smile tugged at Gwen's lips.

'See!' Merlin exclaimed triumphantly.

'I'll take the spare bed, happy?' Gwen said.

Merlin nodded with a yawn as he lay back on the sofa.

'I'll go get you some bed sheets'

'I'll give you a hand' said Arthur, 'the sheets are on the top shelf' he added in explanation.

* * *

The second they entered the bedroom Arthur snapped the door shut and had her pressed up against it. His lips were fierce and hungry on hers. One hand was at the back of her neck, the other was wrapped

tightly around her waist. He dipped her low and he felt her lips smile against his as she responded with great enthusiasm, her hands woven tightly into his hair.

They straightened up.

He trailed his hand from the nape of her neck to her cheek.

'Sorry about that' he said as he struggled to regain control over his ragged breaths, 'but I've been wanted to do that since I saw you in that dress'

She blushed and smiled widely, 'then I need to thank Morgana too'

'You look beautiful tonight-' then checking his watch amended '-this morning'

'I mean not that you don't normally' he said quickly, 'you know you always look beautiful, I just meant especially tonight, or this morning'

Her lips silenced him. 'I love you' she breathed against his mouth.

'I love you too' he grinned, his breath tickling her lips.

'Damn Merlin eh?' she laughed, raising one eyebrow.

'I better go sort out the sofa' Arthur said clearing his throat, just before a loud drunken snore came from the living room.

* * *

They bent over the sofa and their intoxicated friend who was face down in a pile of cushions, snoring vociferously, one arm dangling off the sofa, his knuckles brushing the carpet.

'Out for the count' Gwen confirmed.

'You know what this means?' Arthur said running a finger lazily down her spine.

'That we need to get a sick bucket, a towel and to leave out some water for him' she said as placed the duvet over Merlin's sleeping form and moving his limp arm so it lay on the sofa beside him in order to

prevent him from waking up with a severe case of pins and needles.

Arthur was only half disappointed by her reply, marvelling at caring nature of the women before him. And suddenly he could see her stroking their child's forehead, not Merlin's. She would make a great mother.

He shook himself mentally. _What was he doing? He had been dating her, what, four and a half weeks? And he was already thinking about how their child would have her dark hair and his blue eyes. What the hell was _

_wrong with him? He had been with Sophia eighteen months and these kinds of thoughts had never even crossed his mind. What was going on? And what was more, __**she**__ wasn't thinking about it. _

'Could you grab me an old towel?'

'Sure' he smiled half-heartedly.

* * *

He watched her tucked a snoring Merlin into his makeshift bed before straightening up.

'Now where were we?' she said pushing his jacket off his broad shoulders as she began to place brief teasing kisses up his neck.

He shivered as she slipped her hands up underneath his shirt and his body beginning to hum.

She pulled him into the bedroom by his tie, a dorky smile on his face, all concerns forgotten.

He knocked the door shut behind them.

She kissed him tenderly, tugging gently, invitingly, on his lower lip as she fumbled with his tie.

Then she broke away as his hands moved to the zip of her dress. She looked up at with her warm, almost vulnerable eyes, her fingers blindly unbuttoning his shirt. Not once did their eyes leave the others'. It

was only as her dress slid gracefully to the floor that he broke their gaze, looking down briefly,

'that dress is stunning on, but I think it might just look even better on my floor' he grinned moving even closer to her.

'Oh shit' she said stepping out of the dress, 'Morgana said I need to hang it up otherwise it'll totally ruin the fabric'

He let out a half exasperated, half amused sigh as he watched her cross the room in only her underwear.

She looked through the closet, searching for spare hangers. Finding one she slipped the dress onto it as cool, firm hands slipped themselves around her bare midriff.

'Sorry' she said sheepishly as she placed the dress on the rail.

'You're very cute, do you know that?' he breathed as he kissed the tender hollow behind her ear.

She closed her eyes and let out a soft 'hhhhhmmmmm' as her chest heaved.

'God bless Merlin eh?' he grinned, tugging gently on her earlobe with his teeth.

He felt her shudder against his bare chest; a low 'uhuh' was all she could manage.

* * *

She lay with her head on his chest, looking up at the ceiling.

'I lied' she said, knowing he was still awake.

'Huh?

'When Merlin was talking about us and the future and stuff'

She felt him stiffen beneath her.

'I have thought about it' she said quietly, 'not in a creepy obsessive kind of a way, I don't expect anything, but I have thought it in a vague, at some point down the line if things went well, kind of a way.'

She felt him relax and she could tell without looking at his face that he was smiling.

'I didn't want to admit it because I thought you might think I was a crazy nutcase or something' she said into his chest, 'but I thought I should probably be honest about it, that way you would at least know

you were dating a crazy nutcase.'

'And to think I thought I was the only crazy nutcase in this relationship' he laughed in relief, pressing a kiss into her curls.

* * *

The doorbell rang.

'No' groaned Arthur as he rolled over.

The door bell rang again. And again.

A bleary eyed Gwen nuzzled his shoulder 'Arthur, make the ringing stop'

'Can't you go?' he moaned.

'I'm not wearing anything'

'Neither am I' he protested.

The doorbell rang furiously.

Gwen looked over at the clock, it was seven ten.

She pulled the duvet over her head 'Arthur this is your apartment, it's going to be for you' she reasoned.

'But I-' he began before Gwen pushed him in the back so hard he fell out of bed.

'Oops' she said, trying hard not to giggle at Arthur who was lying sprawled and ungainly on the carpet, 'sorry'

He pulled on his boxers and a white t-shirt, his hair stuck up at bizarre angles, the shadows under his eyes clearly visible, a scowl on his face.

The doorbell rang again.

'Alright, alright I'm coming' Arthur mumbled as he struggled to find the door out of his bedroom.

He stumbled through the living room and over to the front door. But not before his early morning caller had rung the doorbell another eight times.

He pulled open the door.

He stared sleepily for a moment at the person on his doorstep.

'What are you doing here? It's just gone seven on a Sunday morning'

'I see you've changed the locks' said Uther Pendragon.

'Yeah well I thought it might reduce the possibility of you turning up when you're not welcome, though it doesn't seem to be working so far.'

'I own this place' Uther snapped fiercely.

'Actually the Pendragon Group owns it as I'm CEO-'

'In name only'

'That's all that matters with regard to the contract.'

'What's going on?' Gwen said, emerging from the bedroom dressed in t-shirt and trackies belonging to Arthur, having heard raised voices, 'Mr Pendragon?' she said, a little confused, as she saw the man on the

doorstep.

'Guinevere' he said brusquely.

'What's going on?' Gwen asked again.

'That is what I would like to know' Uther said, thrusting the newspaper in his hands at his son, 'page six, read it' he hissed.

Arthur flicked to the said page. His eyes found a large picture of him and Gwen dancing together the night before underneath the legend: 'In Good Company.'

'Oh no' Gwen breathed as she began to read the article over Arthur's shoulder.

'EEEuuuurggggghhhh' came a groan from the sofa, 'what's going on?' Merlin said sitting up too quickly, making his head spin.

Arthur finished the page, he looked his father directly in the eye, 'what's the big deal?' he asked with a shrug.

'I'm sorry?' exclaimed Uther.

'Well the fact that Gwen and I are dating was bound to get out to the press eventually and to be honest they were far nicer about us than I was expecting.'

'Yeah I wasn't expecting them to be so positive about it' Gwen agreed finishing the page too.

'But they've made _me_ the villain in all this' Uther almost shouted.

'I guess they decided that was the best angle for sales'

'I want to know who is responsible for leaking this to the press'

Merlin staggered over to them.

He read the opening paragraph: 'Whoever does not believe in fairytales clearly has never met this couple. In this modern re-telling of the classic Cinderella story Guinevere Leodegrance is cast as the beautiful

heroine from humble beginnings while the male lead of Prince Charming goes to the CEO of the Pendragon Group, Arthur Pendragon. But like in all epic romances there are obstacles in the way, in this case the

role is left to the classist prejudices of Uther Pendragon.'

_Oh shit!_

'Merlin, are you alright?' asked Gwen looking concerned.

'I think I may have been the one to leak it to the press' he stammered, one hand at his pounding temple.

'You!' Uther exclaimed.

'It's alright Merlin' Arthur said quickly, 'you have no right to be angry, he only told this reporter the truth'

'How dare you! My reputation is on the line, the Board is convinced that you might attempt some type of coup and you think I have no right to be angry?'

'You could just organise a press conference to straighten this whole thing out' Gwen said calmly. Uther turned to her, the red in his face fading slightly.

'Assuming of course that you are willing to accept our relationship both publically and privately' Arthur added with a grin.

'_Of course_' Uther said bitterly.

'And then we'll happily tell the press that you've supported the relationship the whole way through.'

Gwen nodded in agreement.

'So that's my choice?'

'Yep' Arthur said, a half smile on his face, 'it would have been nice for you to just be happy for us in the first place, but I guess that would have been asking too much'

'Just give me some time to adjust' Uther said, looking suddenly very tired, 'and I'm sure I will have plenty of time in which to do so' he said, directing this at Gwen.

She smiled gently back at him.

'I guess I should be going'

'Thanks Dad' Arthur said in a low voice as his father turned to leave.

'I'll organise the press conference for Monday morning, that okay with you two?'

'Great' they said together.

Uther shut the door behind him.

_When had his son grown up so fast? He had spent years telling Arthur to stop messing about, stop wasting his life on partying, to settle down, to mature and grow up. And in the month he had been away he had done _

_just that and he was happier than Uther had ever known him. So why wasn't he pleased? Because he hadn't been around to see it, because Arthur's growing up had had nothing to do with him, it had been because of _

_the responsibility of the business and more particularly because of that girl. _

'Mr Pendragon?' a voice said from the other end of the corridor. He turned around to face the way he had come. Gwen walked towards him.

'We were wondering if you might want to come over for dinner on Friday night. Of course if you're busy or you don't want to that's fine, we wouldn't-'

'Thank you Guinevere, I would very much like to'

'Good' she smiled widely, 'and Morgana and Leon will be there too'

'Leon?'

'From accounting, you know, her boyfriend'

His expression told her quite clearly that he knew nothing about Morgana's new boyfriend.

'Sorry, I didn't realise you didn't know' Gwen said quickly, her cheeks rather flushed.

'When did this happen?'

'While you were-'

'Away' he finished.

He turned to go.

'See you on Friday' she said as he pressed the button for the lift.

'See you on Friday' he said with a nod as the lift doors opened and he walked inside.

The doors slid shut.

_That was the last time he ever went on holiday._

_

* * *

_

_A/N: Okay, so that's it for this fic, sorry that the ending was so crap, only I just didn't know how to tie it all up without it being cheesy/ rubbish. Hope it wasn't too disappointing anyhow.__ And I just want to say a massive thanks to all the people who have read and/or reviewed this fic, it has meant a lot 3 xx  
_


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